


Of Virtuous and Vile

by Miku



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bottom Eren Yeager, Character Death, Domestic Violence, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-05-26 13:54:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15002273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miku/pseuds/Miku
Summary: Though Levi initially visited Kenny's village to purchase wines for the royal family, he ends up growing intrigued by the man's maid going by 'Elena'.Eren, who is forced to live disguised as a female named 'Elena' and serves as Kenny's plaything, falls head over heels for the mysterious Levi who comes to visit from the big city he's always dreamt of visiting.





	1. PART I

******WARNINGS******   
_Please read the tags as well as note that Eren for the most part of the fic will be going by 'Elena'_  
_(I wrote this before I found out about the actual Elena/Yelena in the manga, so do know that the name has NOTHING to do with that canon character)_  
_and will be disguised as a female. It is ONLY a disguise, so he is in fact male and the ship is very much gay, don't you worry._

 _Other warnings include_ **domestic abuse, physical and emotional from Kenny towards Eren.**  
There will also be scenes of  sexual interaction between Kenny and Eren!!! Not too detailed, but still present.  
_If you so much as think this will upset you, please spare us both the effort and do not read this fic._  
_Thank you for understanding._

* * *

  

**Part I**

Snow clumps to the hooves of Levi's horse as it leisurely strolls through the white blanket that covers the land around them. Sunlight reflects off it harshly and it undoubtedly lies at the root of why the man's suffering the beginnings of an upcoming headache. He frowns so deeply he can see blurry blotches in the top of his vision as his eyebrows are pulled down and though the strain on muscles causes his forehead to grow more sensitive, the black hairs serve as a filter for the bright light. 

Leaning back in a slouch, Levi relaxes in the saddle, mumbling meaningless words to his horse going by Nyx. Her normally black coat appears patched with grays and white as the sun reflects off her intensely, though not nearly as much as it does off the snow that her hooves kick through.   
She remains untroubled, carrying Levi through the forest with ease until various hours later the trees split up to reveal a tiny village at the near horizon. 

Guards stop him at the wooden gate which serves as an entrance to Levi's destination. Though he should be allowed inside without much trouble, nothing quite goes smoothly whenever his uncle Kenny Ackerman is involved and sure enough the two unimpressive guards question him about the visit.   
Levi assures them that Kenny is aware he's coming today, two letters have been sent out in the past two weeks and he even hands them a handwritten reply from their leader he's to visit. Regardless, they scrutinize the document, mumbling to each other in secretively quiet tones. Not only do they suspect him of fraudulent tendencies but as well do Levi's hackles rise when they mention he should leave the hunting gun on his back with them until he goes to return home. 

The tense sensation inside his stomach doesn't quiet down much when a voice speaks up behind the guards.  

"Leave it, boys! He's an old friend." 

Levi suppresses a snarl as he nods at Kenny who's got one hand clasped on one shoulder of each guard. He pulls them closer to him with a grin, murmuring something into their ears before letting them go and waving Levi through the gate.   
Besides the cocky entrance, Levi also notes how Kenny refers to him as  _'an old friend'_ rather than _'his nephew'_  and figures that what happened in their past together is still a sensitive subject to Kenny. 

As snow makes way for icy mud, Nyx seems to grow a little more restless and though Levi wonders for a split second if she's perhaps instinctively aware of Kenny's nature, he still descends and allows her more breathing space by walking over the slippery surface without carrying his weight or following his steering on top of that.   
A grateful nudge of her nose between Levi's shoulder blades follows suit. 

"Previous one kicked the bucket, did she?" Kenny remarks with a glance over his shoulder as Levi's being lead deeper into the village. The man's eyes travel around, lingering on nearly empty market-stands and laundry hanging above them on wires spread from one window to another from a neighbor across. Voices of laughing children, bargaining stand-owners and barking dogs cause the narrow streets to seem a lot busier than they actually are. 

"Got shot at twenty." Levi replies, thinking back on his previous horse who'd been with him when he'd been only sixteen. 

"Shot at twenty. Serves you right for being dumb enough to ride an old mare." Kenny throws back, he grins shortly before turning his face back around. It's a crude remark, spoken more to pull at the man's heartstrings than it is to damage his sense of intelligence. He knows Kenny very well and it allows for him to put his cruel ways into perspective. 

"Bad aim. I got out of it better than she did." Is the man's short reply, sketching the situation with a minimum amount of effort and emotion.  

Kenny picks up an apple from a nearby stand, thanking the older woman with a grin though she only dips her head, avoiding eye-contact nor smiling. It could come across as rude if one is stupid enough to believe the tall man in front of Levi is charming. Though, when aware of this creature such as Levi is, he agrees with her sentiment and grimaces behind Kenny's back. 

As his guide continues to babble on about the village, a few jabs below the belt here and there, Levi only looks around. With both hands occupied –one holding Nyx' reigns as the other covers her nose to pat the velvety skin- the man is not able to stop a child from bumping into him.   
The boy is barely eight, eyes wide and skin dirty as he apologizes shyly before picking up a nearby ball which he must've been running after. Levi doesn't say a word, only nods and then ignores the awed stares Nyx gets from the child's friends who've joined him on the sidewalk. 

It's pure and fragile. To see a child in awe of a large animal is refreshing to Levi who's come from a big city in which horses are commonly present on the streets. It reminds Levi of the years before he moved into the capital. Years he intentionally leaves in the back of his conscious mind, swept under imaginary rugs that are already dirty enough to be classified hazardous for his wellbeing. 

Turning various corners and listening to more of Kenny bragging about how he intimidates neighboring villages' workers into lowering the prices of food supplies he purchases off them, allows Levi to figure out this place is bigger than it used to be.   
The days spent here as a child seem untrue as this little town has grown not only in size but as well in liveliness. Would he not know better Levi would actually consider Kenny to be a good leader for the local citizens. 

By the time Nyx is finally taken from Levi by a young, muscular man going by Reiner, he unrolls his shoulders and takes in the sight of Kenny's house.   
It's nothing fancy but undoubtedly the best one out of the bunch of crooked and crumbling buildings he's spotted so far. Not only is it placed a good ten-minute walk from the rest of the town, but as well does it include a large meadow and two stables, both of which are empty. 

"Nothing like your home, I'm sure." Kenny jokes though Levi is wary of the sharpness to the man's teeth when he grins at him. A compliment is never to be taken lightly when it comes from this man. They're always backhanded or at times they request a favor that'll be left unrewarded. Levi wisely does not reply, only follows him through the front door. 

Inside is dark and crowded. It's smaller than Levi expected, though the odd placement of furniture might be the cause of it. Everything is made out of dark wood and even the porcelain knick-knacks scattered about can't stop the atmosphere from being dragged down by the earth tones. 

"Watch your head." Kenny says as he has to duck a little to avoid bumping into the frame of a door. 

"Well, never mind." The man adds after Levi joins the much taller man in the kitchen. He ignores the offensive joke directed at his short stature and instead looks around more. He observes tiny dust particles floating around in the sunrays that enter the small room through a large window, some of them landing on the empty kitchen table, others on the stove and polished sink to their left.   
Though even smaller than the living room, the kitchen is brightly lit and looks out on a large garden which seems suitable to grow vegetables and sprout beautiful flowers in summer times. Farther in the garden are large barrels, undoubtedly holding wine. 

Which, incidentally, is what he's here for in the first place. 

"Tea?" 

Levi hums his approval. Pulling back a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table, Levi continues to look out the window while Kenny digs through cupboards, cursing under his breath.   
He mutters something about _'her not having prepared anything'_  before shouting a name. 

The man glances at Kenny who has paused his search for tea and instead leans on the counter that splits the kitchen in half; table on one side, stove and cupboards on the other. His fingers drum impatiently while he remains staring at the door across from the one Levi came through. 

After a mere few seconds of stumbling, the door swings open and a bewildered looking girl enters the small room. She looks at Kenny, seemingly so fearful she fails to notice their visitor and Levi surely can't blame her. He knows this man is not at all more mannered around women than he is around men.   
Not even children are safe around him, he'd shove one out of the way if it'd be standing between himself and something he wants. 

"Tea." Is Kenny's simple demand and after a short moment in which she seemed to expect more information, she jumps into action. Levi's eyebrow quirks up as he observes her starting to prepare tea with ridiculous haste while Kenny sits at the table across from Levi. 

"So, Levi boy, what business brings you all the way here from the palace?" 

Levi wonders if he's mentioning the _'palace'_  part to impress his –what he presumes to be- maid or he's just looking too deep into it. 

"Your wines." Is the man's straight-to-the-point reply. 

His eyes lock with Kenny's.  

"My wines?" His tone is dramatically wondersome, his chin leaning on the palm of a large hand while he glances at his maid for a few moments. 

"What about them?" Kenny prods, looking back at Levi and smiling lazily. Levi has to hold back the urge to shift in his seat, instead keeping still as to not betray his nervousness around this criminal. It's a typical fight or flight instinct simmering beneath the surface of his deadpan facial features. Levi feels like the prey around Kenny, something he's self-explanatorily despised from the beginning of knowing him. 

"The king's got a taste for them. He requests the recipes for a good price. He's hopeful of sending off bottles as presents as well as sell them to more members of royal stature. Naturally, half of any profit made will be returned to you." 

Though Levi would play his cards differently when sent out for a negotiation about anything regarding the king and trafficking of money, Kenny is not a man easily fooled or charmed. Only baring one card will just result in the man pestering him with psychological mind-games until he walks out empty handed.  

Staring at Kenny intently, awaiting his reply, Levi nearly jumps out of his skin when a cup of tea is placed in front of him. He nods at the maid, glancing up at her, but she's turned away already, face as good as hidden behind long chocolate-brown strands of hair. Her clothes –Levi notes- are as dirty as her hair, and there's a hole in one of her sleeves which she tugs at after having handed Kenny's cup as well. 

When she is about to turn away, Kenny grabs her wrist so gently it seems more ominous than it does comforting. 

"You know to serve me before our guests, don't you?" Kenny's thumb rubs over the girl's hand. Stirring visibly, she nods quickly, a quiet _'sorry'_  falling from her lips. At that the confrontation should be done with but Levi is aware of Kenny's sadistic ways and isn't surprised when he keeps going. 

"It's not because our friend here comes from the big city that he deserves special treatment." Kenny's voice is soft, but demeaning, like he's speaking to a five-year-old who just won't understand what's being told to them. Not only is he trying –and succeeding- in embarrassing her in front of Levi, but as well is he making sure Levi can tell he's not changed one bit. That he's not to be fooled.  

Hunched in his seat so he can tilt his head and meet the maid's eyes from beneath her long hair, Kenny squeezes her hand hard enough for her to wince before he finally lets go. 

"You can leave now, silly girl." 

Though not able to see, Levi is almost positive the girl must've started weeping or at the very least have her face flush red in mortification. She retreats, hastily. 

"Women. Got to keep them on a leash or they'll be fucking your nephew in the horse-stables at midnight in no time." Kenny grumbles, sipping from his tea. Figuring out that he's suggesting Levi would be feeling up his maid if a leash was not put on her, he changes the subject impatiently. 

"The wine." He reminds Kenny. 

"Right." The taller man rasps before replying properly. 

"No." 

Levi clenches his jaws. Though he'd expected as much from this man who's got to distort everything into a challenge or a game only he can win, it still leaves him regretful of even having come out here all the way from home.   
The five-hour ride isn't one Levi wants to leave empty-handed and so he ponders on for a moment. 

"The king has given me permission to discuss the price, widely." 

"Still a no, kid." Kenny throws back, condescendingly addressing the shorter man as if he'd only just left him behind to travel to the city with Erwin when he'd been seventeen. By now, it's been nine years since that day but regardless of how much he's grown in mind, Levi still can't help but feel subdued like a little boy around Kenny. 

He despises the sensation but can't quite shake it off. 

"Still playing hard to get." Levi remarks dryly, not amused when Kenny winks at him with a wide grin, agreeing. 

"Let me show you around a little. Maybe I'll grow on you, like old times." The man gets up, dwarfing the kitchen and swiftly dodging the antique-looking chandelier which seems rather out of place in the tiny room. Regardless of not wanting to join Kenny on a trip down memory-lane, he still has business to attend and he'd rather suffer a few hours than return empty-handed; pride and reliability damaged. 

For the most part, Kenny informs Levi of local gossip. Tells him about the pub's bartender having a problem with alcohol and an affair with the baker's wife. The pharmacy is apparently run by criminals and if you've some good words put in from Kenny you might even be able to purchase a firearm from under the counter.   
Most of all, Kenny brags about  _'his people'_  respecting him, looking up to him, though Levi suspects fear lies at the base of any of those sentiments. He doesn't word his suspicions, instead humming in agreement here and there with a stiff nod. 

It's only when Levi mentions he should be returning as the ride home will take about five hours in daylight, eight at night, that Kenny guides him back to his own house.   
Apparently having listened to him babbling for a couple of hours has done the trick to convince Kenny for whatever reason to provide Levi with twelve bottles of home-brewed wines. Though he's not fully satisfied, Levi is aware that the man has made his choice and hence negotiating is pointless for now. Very likely Kenny had decided from the start to hand over a couple of bottles to Levi, yet had chosen to just play dumb and reminisce over the old days and if satisfied, allow him a few more. 

Old days that were anything but good ones. 

Seated on top of his horse, for once Levi is taller than Kenny, though barely. He looks down his nose at him, not finding it within himself to nod a goodbye when Kenny taps the rim of his hat and wishes him a safe trip home. It's not genuine. The man's sharp teeth bared in a grin scream that he'd rather see Levi being eaten by local wildlife than make his way back to the  _'city of the high and mighty'_  –as he likes to call it-. 

Looking away when pulling the reigns to have Nyx turn around, Levi thinks he spots something shift in the corner of his eye. When looking up, sure enough, a curtain behind one of the windows upstairs in Kenny's house sways lightly as if someone had just been peeking from behind it. 

Levi's face remains neutral and he looks away seamlessly, digging his heels into Nyx' sides and clacking his tongue for her to make haste to exit this rotten village.  

As Nyx' hooves kick away snow later that day and the wind hitting Levi's face grows icier, the man wonders if Kenny's maid will still be there next time he visits.   
A thought he doesn't pay attention to. 

Not yet. 

* * *

 

_Shoutout to my partner[Alex](http://instagram.com/konijnsan) for coming up with the premises of this fic! Also a big thank you to [Bean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mopsieflops/) for helping me out with some plot holes and brainstorming with me!_

 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	2. PART II

**PART II**

A mere two weeks pass before the king requires of Levi to step up his wits and try once more to find a way to get some wines from Kenny's village. 

Levi, though sour at the prospect of being around that man again, only agrees respectfully and takes on the offer. 

The last snow of the year has already fallen and the trip to the village, this time around, takes a lot less long. Nyx is able to gallop in intervals, no ice to mess up the grip her hooves need on solid ground, Kenny's empty bottles clank in the saddlebags thrown over her back.   
Sunlight gently warms Levi's skin as well as cascades the previously white forest in a warm glow. The scent of trees, grass and dirt evident in the man's nostrils whenever he inhales. 

When arriving, the guards this time around go a little easier on him and after checking with each other whether or not Kenny's informed them of Levi's visit, the man's free to enter. 

"Boss is running late with local handling. He'll meet you at his house." The stockier of the two men informs and Levi nods before steering Nyx through the gates. She's a lot calmer than last time he was here and it only confirms to him that she'd been more on edge because of Kenny's presence than she had been about the ice under her feet.   
It says a lot when an animal can sense a man's cruel intentions. Levi pats her neck. 

Finding his way to Kenny's house is not a challenge as it lies simply behind the village, straight ahead, and sure enough after a handful of minutes he spots not only the building but the same man who'd taken Nyx off his hands the previous time. 

"Welcome back, sir." The blond man greets, his smile stiff and edging on unfriendly. Levi can't care less and he descends unbothered, handing over the reins.  

"She needs water." Levi demands, glancing at the sweat on her thick neck before lifting off the saddlebags and throwing them over an arm instead. 

"Yes, sir." Is Reiner's reply, patting Nyx on her cheek which she seems fine with.  

"Mr. Ackerman is running late so if you don't mind to wait outside for a moment; Elena is preparing a drink for you." 

 _'The maid.'_ Levi's brain clarifies pointlessly, as if excited or surprised by this plain information. 

Ignoring his own thoughts, Levi nods at Reiner –a little friendlier this time around- before making way towards the front porch of Kenny's place.    
He ascends the few steps, wood creaking under his weight, to seat himself on a bench suspended by thick ropes from the overhang above.    
Placing the bags of empty bottles next to his feet, Levi leans back and allows himself to sway gently on the swing as he overlooks the meadows at the horizon in front of him. Though the sky kisses plain grass in the distance, to his left clouds are partially hidden behind small buildings that shape the village, to his right they're distorted behind a thick shield of trees as the forest seems to spread wide enough to connect right back around to the village's entrance. 

It's a beautiful place to live. Had it not been for the poverty and an iron hand ruling the tiny community. Levi's never been fond of the city, enjoys nature and freedom more than cold architecture hidden between tree-high walls. It reminds him of a snow-globe in which he's stuck, no matter if he leaves. His home is now in that dome. Eventually, he'll have to return to those waiting for him –expecting of him-. 

The creak of a door shakes Levi from his daydreaming and he plants his feet more firmly onto the wooden floorboards beneath, stopping himself from swaying. Looking to his left he's met by the same girl he'd seen two weeks prior, though this time around she actually meets his eyes and Levi is able to take in her face framed by long, brown hair. Unlike last time, she doesn't seem as dirty, her hair freshly washed, her dress stain-free though still raggedy.  

Elena seems surprised, even though she should've been expecting him. For a moment she looks around, the grip she has on a silver plateau carrying a pot of tea with two mugs and cups which Levi assumes hold milk and sugar, tightens visibly. 

"Mr. Kenny..." She starts but then shuts up, shaking her head once and frowning at herself.  

Levi's always been an observant person, he enjoys to analyze, likes to figure interesting people out and takes pride in predicting one's personality. This time is no different. He watches her closely, only noticing the vibrant green of her irises when she glances at him from the corner of her eye whilst she places down the plate on the porch's balustrade.    
The eye-contact only lasts for half a second before she whips her head away from him, as if he'd burned her by having caught her looking. 

"He's running late. Yes, I've heard." Levi murmurs before getting up when noticing Elena is about to prepare his tea for him. 

"I'll do it." Though he wants to avoid having her go through something stressful as she seems to be on edge over having to pour him a cup, it only results in her startling. She flinches, hides it quickly but not at all fast enough for Levi to not take note of it. 

 _'_ _Like a_ _beaten dog.'_  Is a description that involuntarily comes to mind. 

"Wouldn't want Kenny to get upset over you serving me before him again." It's something Levi shouldn't be saying but the words come out before he can chew on them. He's not one to interfere with any business, especially not Kenny's and knowing the man, having Levi so much as hint at gossiping about him behind his back is a death sentence.   
Not to mention, she could get in even more trouble for being at the receiving end of Levi's snark about her boss. 

The man glances around, relaxing marginally when there's no Kenny in sight and instead focuses on pouring tea for himself. His preference when it comes to sugar and milk doesn't matter, Levi leaves the drink untouched like last time, not trusting his uncle to not poison him. 

Elena remains quiet, standing on the porch, hands folded in front of her as she gazes at the village.  

Levi stares at her, face expressionless, to take in her peculiar features. She's got a small, straight nose, full lips and large eyes with thick lashes. All signs of either femininity or youth.   
However, as the wind rustles leaves and blows strands of her hair to reveal the length of her long neck, Levi spots two details. 

Bruises -either love-bites or finger-prints- next to a slightly protruding Adam's Apple. He frowns, lowering his eyes to her chest to note that it's rather small for the average young woman. Then again, she's skinny, and deceivingly young... 

About to ask her age, Levi's mouth snaps shut when Elena twitches on the spot before raising a hand and waving. Her smile is half-assed to say the least and Levi scowls at it. He despises any form of ingenuity, dishonesty, secrecy.  

Kenny, who is calmly heading towards them on foot, possesses all of those mentioned traits. Perhaps good reasons for Elena to be appearing so emotionally dull, as far as Levi can tell. 

Though hesitating at first, Elena hops off the stairs when Kenny waves her over and Levi watches how the man embraces her tall, lanky figure firmly against him. A hand travels down the small of her back, squeezing her behind candidly and knowing the man he's doing it on purpose to make sure Levi doesn't get any strange ideas like seducing her into betraying Kenny for his benefit. 

After all, after what happened between them nearly a decade ago, Kenny has as little trust in Levi as Levi does in him. 

Sure enough, when glancing up, he meets Kenny's eyes leering over the top of Elena's head at him. 

Levi doesn’t move, doesn't look away, doesn't smile, doesn't glare, and after a few moments Kenny pecks the girl on her forehead, though so roughly that she is pushed backwards by the force of it.    
The man passes her by, letting her go as quickly as he'd grabbed her, and greets Levi with a hard slap on the back. Levi suppresses a cough, following the man inside. 

"So, I assume you didn't ride all the way here to bring me back my bottles, hm?" Kenny's voice is loud as he rather shouts than turn around to face Levi while leading him into the kitchen. 

"Good guess." Levi mumbles, agitated at having to spend precious free time around this sadistic and obnoxious creature. Throwing a quick glance over his shoulder as to not let the door fall shut in Elena's face, Levi spots her shoving a teaspoon of sugar in her mouth while balancing the plate on one arm and keeping open the door with an elbow.   
It's such an odd sight, one that doesn’t make much sense, that Levi ends up being so taken by the image it results in him bumping into Kenny's back. 

"She's a cute one, isn't she?"  

Kenny's voice is more of a growl than a whisper and Levi knows better than to reply to it. The shorter man looks up at Kenny for a second and when noting he's smirking with less animosity than expected, he dares to reassure him he's not after his maid. 

"Not my type." 

"Not enough tools between her legs, right?" The man grins, knowing all too well about Levi's preference in sexual partners as he'd caught him fooling around with a boy in the horse stables when he'd been a teenager. 

"Right." Levi admits, not able to hide a grimace for being reminded of his sexuality being disgusting enough to receive a seal of approval by this man. Kenny is fond of anything that goes against laws and morals, after all. Then again, he's always been eager to remind Levi of how disgusting it is to lay with men, embarrassing him countless of times in private, though never bringing it out into the public if only to not bring shame to the Ackerman line.

Once in the kitchen, Elena brings them their tea before she disappears through the door she'd come from when Levi had seen her for the first time. He suspects there must lay a hallway behind there that leads up to perhaps her bedroom. Or rather, _their_  bedroom... An unimportant assumption that he swipes from his thoughts fully before addressing Kenny about the new offer. 

"The king's upped the price for your wines." 

Kenny seems bored, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs in order to rest his right ankle on his left knee. His legs are spread wide. Had Levi been female he would've felt appalled.  

"He's also willing to offer up to seventy percent of the profits made from selling them." Levi adds, carefully, and feels a tinge of victory when Kenny raises an eyebrow at that remark whilst prodding a toothpick between his teeth. 

"Seventy percent, huh?" The man ponders around the wooden pick between his fangs. Levi watches –mildly disgusted- how the man sucks off any food remains from the tool before disposing of it on the saucer beneath his cup of tea. 

"Tell you what," The tall man begins, glancing over his shoulder at a clock suspended from the wall behind him before locking eyes with Levi once more. 

"-why don't you spend the night in town? Let us visit the local pub, have a few drinks, play some poker. Have a bet over  _your_  king's offer."  

Though the leader of their land rules over both Levi and Kenny, it is typical for the man to put great sarcasm into his spoken intonations. After all, the king is dearly despised by the criminal across from Levi. The reasons for this being personal conflicts as well as a desire to maintain his lone wolf persona. Therefore, in Kenny's perception, the king is anyone's but his. 

Regardless of Levi being willing to spend a whole night in the presence of Kenny in combination with alcohol  _(which he isn't)_ , he figures that it is worth a shot. Not a hair on his head desires to return to the king with disappointing news once again. He has to close this deal one way or another, and if playing the man's games is one way to do it, then so be it. 

Despite this mindset, Levi still highly believes it'll end up with him losing the game and having to kiss the man's entire ass to get something –anything- from him to bring back home to the city. 

 _'Worth a shot.'_  He thinks to himself once again before nodding. 

Kenny grins at him, assuring Levi wordlessly that he'll be having a bad time. 

* * *

 

Sure enough, that same night, Levi ends up losing the bet and is left with having to sit through Kenny being a loud, obnoxious drunk. Times like these have been experienced in the past as well.   
Levi recalls evenings to early mornings spent in this man's presence as a teenager, observing Kenny shout and start fights and seduce women continuously while staggering on his own two feet. It's made him wonder about who he actually is. It's made Levi wonder what the hell Kenny has been through himself for having ended up like this.    
No matter his bitter outlook on life and his pessimistic –yet necessary- opinions regarding his uncle, Levi isn't one to see matters in black and white. Not at all times, that is, though he tries to. 

After all. It makes things a lot easier to decide with a yes or a no instead of countless maybes. Not to mention, it's a whole lot simpler to perceive Kenny as just an evil man than it is to question the complexity of him. 

But then there's those moments in which Levi is forced to believe that this man is rotten to the core. Whatever innocence he'd ever possessed long gone. Those moments are plenty available in the darkest corners of Levi's memory and he consciously decided a long time ago to not snoop around in there. 

Kenny's hand on his shoulder snaps him back to reality and taking a deep breath Levi looks up from his seat. 

"Have you been drinking your whiskeys at all, boy?" His words slur and he sways on the spot like a tall tree in a storm. Levi narrows his eyes, not quite believing this man is as drunk as he's appearing. 

"Yes." Is his plain reply, though he fears the flowers in the vase behind him on a window-sill might wither on the spot because of the amount of alcohol force-fed to them by none other than Levi himself. 

"You might want to head to the inn down the street for your night's rest. I'm going to be a bit busy for a little while longer." Kenny admits, glancing over his shoulder where Levi spots three scantily clad women cooing at the tall man, waving handkerchiefs and batting ridiculously large sets of eyelashes.    
Levi recognizes them as they'd been dancing on the small stage in the back corner of the pub only an hour ago. The blonde of the trio winks at him but even if there'd been a seven-inch surprise awaiting him between her legs he'd not be interested. Their large dresses and fishnet stockings do even less to seduce him and he gets up from his seat slowly. 

"Have fun." Levi murmurs, grimacing when Kenny ruffles his hair before heading over to the three women, arms spread wide to receive all of them in a hug. Their high-pitched voices exclaim in feigned shock when he starts grabbing them under their skirts, chasing them towards the back of the pub where a door leads to presumably an upstairs area. 

It's close to one in the morning when Levi exits the bar.  

His boots crunch on the gravel and dirt, the quiet of the night soothes his ears after having spent hours in a room filled with the buzz of chattering voices, clinking glasses and the dull thrum of music in the background.  

He's sleepy as he makes his way down the quiet street. After lighting a cigarette, Levi begins to berate himself for still not having made a deal with the man. Though perhaps he can nag him in the morning when a hangover might lower the man's stubborn standards. 

When about to take his second drag, a voice disrupts him and the sound of it is so loud in the silence of after-midnight hours that Levi visibly jumps. 

"Where is he?!" 

Levi looks up from his feet, meeting dark eyes in a face only lit by pale moonlight. Her features, though more tired, are still attractive at one in the morning. Unlike Levi, who seems to downgrade after ten at night, his constantly tired state of mind not allowing him to age slowly. His appearance a decade ahead of himself. 

"Well?" Elena repeats herself, her fists childishly placed above her hips, bushy eyebrows pulled down in a comically intense frown.  

Only bad things can come from speaking to her, Levi knows. Either he'll tell her something that'll have her fight with Kenny or he'll tell her something that'll have Kenny fight with him. Though Levi is almost convinced that she's nothing but a housemaid and a good lay to Kenny, he isn't sure as to what the man means to Elena herself.   
Perhaps she does fancy him, stiff posture and shifty mannerisms aside. If anything, he'd rather not hurt her feelings by telling her that her potential partner is having a foursome in the local pub. Especially since that could result in him having to pay for it. 

Levi inhales some more smoke before flicking away the cigarette and staring into her glowering leer. 

"Can you show me where the inn is?" 

She seems surprised by how he avoids her question candidly and unabashed and though for a moment it seems that Elena will once more repeat herself, she instead exhales loudly. Glancing away, fingers are brought up to brush a strand of hair behind one of her ears and Levi notes how the shell of it sticks out a little more than with the average person.   
Internally he comes close to smiling. It's endearingly childlike and though he doesn't want to disrespect her, he still believes it'd be incredibly difficult to take her seriously in a heated argument. Then again, she might be no joke when considerably outraged. 

Regardless, it's nothing to be pondering over as he'll never witness those sides of her. 

"It's this way." Elena turns around, previous annoyance apparently forgotten and Levi follows her while keeping plenty of distance between them.   
Naturally he knows where the inn is. Not only did he spot it before but as well is this village too small to ever get lost in. It's only a half a minute walk before she points out the entrance to his sleeping arrangements to him and Levi mutters his thanks. 

It's when he she turns to leave that Levi makes the first of many mistakes regarding Elena. 

"Where you headed?" 

She glances over her shoulder, as surprised by him asking as Levi is. 

"Home. Since you won't tell me where Mr. Kenny is."  

Levi wonders if she's being witty with him or is too dumb to take note of her sarcastic remark. Deciding to not ask, the man looks behind him at the entrance to the inn before turning back to face her. 

"Let me escort you. Kenny would kill me if something were to happen to you, knowing I let you go on your own." 

An awkward huff falls from her lips, the sound loud in the night, as she looks down with a hand raised to once more bring a strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Well," She whispers, shyly, though her body language makes her seem coyer than Levi believes her to consciously present herself as. 

"He'd kill you for being alone with me at night too, so there's that." Elena adds, pressing a finger against her lips as she pushes them inward, her teeth nipping at the insides. 

Not certain whether she just made a joke or not, Levi clacks his tongue, though can't help but glance to his left where he'd come from to see if there's a Kenny stampeding towards them.   
The streets remain empty, cobble-stones glossy because of earlier downpour. 

"Good point." The man admits, tensing when the silence that follows grows awkward. 

"Well, standing here might draw attention as well. So, I'll be heading home now, sir." 

As she turns around to leave, Levi has to physically stop himself from reaching out to her. He doesn't know why he wants to touch her. Has no idea where he wants to grab her and if he did what he'd do. It's an odd sensation and he stands on the sidewalk for many minutes after she's disappeared from sight, just frowning. 

Just feeling. 

* * *

 

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	3. PART III

**Chapter warnings:  
** **_domestic abuse, violence_ **

 

**PART III**

 

Third time's the charm. Levi assumed.   
However, two months and four more visits pass by. Visits which start out with him discussing wines with Kenny before they always end up with the man inviting him over to have drinks and gamble before Levi's sent home the morning after with a dozen sample bottles.   
No deals. No recipes.  

Within those eight weeks however, Levi finds out that Elena is actually in charge of brewing the alcohol and in fact knows all their recipes and procedures together with Reiner and their friend Krista. Not only that, but the man also catches on to some details by simply observing Kenny and Elena's interactions.   
For example, the girl at times stands up for herself. Mostly this occurs when Kenny himself is in a more relaxed mood and doesn't perceive Elena as enough of a threat to even care about her scolding him. These particular moments only occur when they're unaware of Levi's presence however. It's easy to figure out that when joining them, Elena grows silent and does not dare disrespect Kenny in the presence of others. 

A smart decision, considering the man's fingerprints can be seen on her throat and wrists whenever she forgets to hide these particular spots from Levi's watchful eye. It brings him back to how she'd been tugging down her sleeves the first time he'd seen her. 

Naturally, throughout these past visits to town, Levi's found some moments to try and have conversations with the girl. She doesn't speak much most of the time, but she does have a wit about her he'd not expected before.   
Despite Elena being fidgety and nervous, her observations have a snark to them that force Levi to swallow down a few snorts and chuckles at times. 

Regardless of their friendly chats every now and then, Kenny is the biggest issue in Levi's assignment. The more often he visits, the clearer it becomes that Kenny just accepts his nephew in town to win a few bets in the local pub as they play poker together and come out victorious every time thanks to Levi's deadpan features and shameless bluffing.   
And that's all it is. Kenny does not care for Levi. Not like he used to -if ever he did-, and blatantly puts up with his company for the sake of having some fun out in town. 

When he figures this out, Levi knows he has to change his approach completely if not to return empty-handed once again and have the king grow disappointed in him. He's been wasting time these past visits. He's been losing face to anyone in the kingdom aware of his task. 

Hence, this time around is his last chance. And he throws overboard any previous tactics, instead deciding on a whole different level of plotting to get Kenny to give him the damn wines.   
After all, there's a link between himself and Kenny. 

The link of his newest plot; Elena.   
Elena knows the wines, surely, but Levi is not one to try and coax it from her. Perhaps that'd be plan C. For now, he wants to try to get his deal arranged with Kenny, for if he'd have Elena betray his uncle, he and her both will end up dead. 

Hence this is why he currently has one arm outstretched after slamming his hand against the inner wall of Kenny's horse stables. Though Nyx who's behind him doesn't startle, Elena does. She flinches, eyes wide as she looks at Levi who's stopped her from exiting the stables after he'd followed her inside. 

"Sir, is something the matter?" Her voice is wondersome and tiny. He can hear it tremble through exhaled words. 

"I need your help, Elena." Levi almost interrupts her, holding her gaze with a firm stare of his own. Using her name so casually is only for the sake of trying to have their non-existent relationship be touched with familiarity. 

"I'm not sure I can-" 

"Talk to Kenny. About the wines." Again, Levi interrupts her, staring into her eyes calmly. 

She stares back at him and though the warning signs are there in her furrowed brows and tense shoulders, Levi pushes further. 

"Find out anything that can help me get some damn wine. He's been impossible to negotiate with." 

"I don't see how that's my problem." She throws back, her voice still soft but eyes now glaring. Levi ignores her simmering anger, doesn't take it seriously for he's seen her sulk and stomp her feet in front of Kenny before. It's nothing impressive, truly. 

"It's not. But help me out, will you?" 

"I will do no such thing." Elena sputters, apparently insulted at the prospect of bargaining with her boss. She tries to pass him by but Levi's arm remains outstretched before her and as she has to halt to not bump into his limb, he can smell her perfume. Observing her profile for a few moments, Levi almost forgets to talk. 

"Just, find something to convince him." He urges her, his voice soft though not begging.  

It's when Elena tries to duck under his arm that Levi grows impatient –or rather desperate- for he quickly grabs her shoulder and pushes her back against the wall. She gasps and then... 

"Listen! If I return empty handed again-" 

Levi chokes on his words when a pain shoots through his foot and looking down shows Elena's heel planted firmly into his boot. Automatically he flinches at the impact and with the distraction in place, she pushes past him to leave the stables.    
Though it takes him a few moments of cursing and rubbing his hand over his boot, the man quickly agrees that it was deserved. Even Nyx neighs shortly as if amused, eyeing her owner from across the small wooden building, shaking her manes. 

"Shut up." Levi grumbles at her, sliding down a nearby wall to sit down in the hay. Slipping off his boot, Levi remains in the stables for a long while, rubbing his foot with both hands while staring up unseeingly at the ceiling, back of his head resting against wooden panels. 

It'd been desperate of him. Dirty even, to be involving Kenny's maid in their business just because he can't seem to convince the man. It reminds Levi of how much of his wild instincts he's lost overtime as he's been living comfortably without threats or entertainment. He's no longer used to surviving, thinking and acting on his feet. 

He curses himself, embarrassed at having nearly begged a stranger for help. A stranger who could even have suffered consequences.   
Regardless, having seen her act so timidly around the man at times must've made Levi believe –be it subconsciously or wishful thinking in itself- that she had no business with Kenny. That she'd jump at the chance of betraying him and fooling him for some short, old and awkward visitor.   
Certainly, they're closer than an employee is supposed to be around their boss. Regardless... who in their right mind would be faithful to a man like Kenny? Unless, they're aware of his power, of the lengths he'll go through to punish anyone who's done him wrong. 

Naturally, a few chats here and there would not convince her to trust Levi over a man she might've been living with for years now.   
Then again, it's just fucking wines. 

Regardless, everything has its price. Elena as well as Kenny... Levi just needs to figure out what offers to present on the table. 

* * *

 

When dragging himself back to Kenny's house, pain in his foot subsided almost completely, Levi is met by muffled shouting coming from inside. 

Though at any other time he would've turned away, this time around there is a chance he's the subject of the discussion going on between the house's walls and hence Levi quietly opens the fly screen curtains that lead to an already opened front door. 

The booming voice is Kenny's –as expected- and though Elena's chimes back, it's a lot quieter than his'.  

Levi pauses at the kitchen door, his hand on the knob while he tries to decide whether to eavesdrop or break up the fight. Though at heart he's not of curious nature, Levi feels desperate to close this deal and hopes to catch some hints as to how to do so.   
In the back of his mind he berates himself for being like this. For obeying so well, for following instructions and working for the greater good of the city's royal family. For going against his own quirks and believes just to get a damn wine recipe. 

But this is who Levi is now. 

He no longer belongs in this village, nor under Kenny's wings. He no longer has the need to rebel for the sake of swimming against the stream. He no longer has the desire to roam for the sake of befitting no herd and only enjoying his own company. 

Levi is not a part of Kenny anymore. 

Before his thoughts can go too far back into the past spent with Kenny, the loud shattering of glass makes Levi back off from the door against which something had been thrown.    
As it's becoming obvious their fight is getting out of hand, and Levi reaches out to open the door and step in, it already swings open without him touching it. 

Elena storms out, her shoulder bumping into Levi's as she holds her cheek and a whimpered sob is swallowed down. Levi glances over her shoulder as she pushes through the screen door, magnets allowing it to fall back shut once she reaches the bottom step of the porch and turns a corner out of sight. 

When looking back, Kenny is walking calmly towards Levi, thumb rubbing the palm of his right hand before he shakes it a couple of times. Levi grimaces, putting two and two together and concluding that he's slapped her with it. Perhaps in the past he would've pointed out the obvious... Today he just clenches his jaws and meets Kenny's bored gaze. 

"One worker." The tall man speaks, clenching his hand a few times before brushing fingers through his thinning hair. 

"One worker?" Levi asks, tensing when Kenny exhales a loud sigh. He looks annoyed, thoroughly so, and It's not a sight Levi's seen often as this man enjoys hiding any agitation behind a mask of amusement and sadism. 

"I'm offering your king one worker to make wines in the city."  

Immediately Levi wonders if this is morbid coincidence or if Elena had accidentally caused this beginning of a solution to making a wine deal with Kenny. Back in the stables she'd seemed anything but cooperative and though Kenny's features are calm, Levi wonders if she'd told him about their incident. 

Why did they fight? Or rather, what had the fight been about? 

"Okay." Levi carefully agrees, glancing up at Kenny who is busy prodding his canine with a bent toothpick. The man licks his teeth, sucking air between them in an attempt to remove something wedged between before giving up and passing Levi by. 

"Let me write down my workers so you can have your king decide." Kenny mumbles, sounding disgruntled as he digs through a drawer to Levi's left before picking out paper and pen. 

"Alright..."  

* * *

 

The king is never notified of the list Kenny gave to Levi when he'd departed back home from his eighth visit. 

Perhaps a hunger to get back into danger, to experience excitement, is what convinced Levi to play his own little game rather than have the king participate unbiased. Though, it might as well simply be the way in which Elena had helped him saddle Nyx minutes before he'd left.

 

 _She'_ _s_ _quiet, t_ _ells_ _him Kenny_ _i_ _s still asleep at nine in the morning because of his heavy drinking the night before. She_ _doesn't_ _mention the fight but the bruise on her cheek sp_ _eaks_ _louder than her once_ _again_ _timid_ _demeanor._    
_When Levi_ _'s seated_ _on_ _top of_ _Nyx, looking down at Elena touching his horse's nose almost coyly, he ma_ _k_ _e_ _s_ _another mistake in so many more when it c_ _omes_ _to her._  

 _"He's beautiful." She murmur_ _s_ _._  

 _"Nyx is a girl."_  

 _Elena seem_ _s_ _genuinely surprised and she only just manage_ _s_ _to not bend down to take a peek to see for herself. Levi_ _grows_ _amused at seeing her stop herself from doing just that and instead play it off by brushing fingers through her hair and glancing away, blushing._  

 _"She looks like a stallion."_  

 _Levi hums, nodding in agreement, before patting Nyx on the neck._  

 _"Looks can betray." He intended for it to be perceived as small_ _talk, but for some reason Elena appear_ _s_ _taken aback. She_   _stir_ _s_ _, looking up at him with eyes squinted. The hand on Nyx' nose f_ _alls_ _down before she crosse_ _s_ _her arms as if hugging herself._  

 _Her mouth open_ _s_ _, close_ _s_ _, open_ _s_ _again. Like a fish on the dry._  

 _"It's necessary at times."_ _S_ _he ad_ _ds_   _in what seem_ _s_ _to be a flirtatious tone but Levi is certain it's_   _a_ _n accident as Elena doesn't seem one to smooth talk anyone other than perhaps Kenny. And even then, she'd get slapped for it, so why take the risk?_  

 _"Don't you think so too,_ _sir_ _Levi?"_  

 _Levi's head cocks sideways, finding it peculiar of her to address him with his first name, albeit combined with a title. Other than that, he once more is drawn to take in her features, trying to find anything that'd betray her gender of not being what is presented to the outside world._  

 _It's only Reiner appearing outside on the porch that prevents him from looking any further. The young man's eyes on both of them assures Levi it is time to say his goodbyes._  

 _"Good day, Miss." Levi_ _mumbles_ _, going to pull Nyx' reins in order to turn her around before Elena stops him by grabbing one of the leads._  

 _"W-wait!" She freezes at her own shout, eyes shifting as she glances over her shoulder at the house before looking at Nyx, staring unseeing._    
_Though she did meet Reiner's gaze in that fraction of a second, it doesn't deter her from saying what's on her mind._  

 _"What is the city like?"_  

 _Levi watches her blush grow in redness, tensing at the odd intimacy of their moment together. Though talking about a basic subject_ _–a_ _meaningless topic_ _-,_ _something feels heavy... Loaded. Like he's been doing something wrong, against the rules, dangerous._  

 _His heart skip_ _s_ _a beat at the tinge of adventure._  

 _"Cold and lonely." Levi murmurs_ _after he's glanced up to find Reiner retreating into the house and then goes on to k_ _eep his eyes_ _on Elena_ _. It takes her a while_ _until she glances up after a few long moments in which the wind played with her shiny, soft hair. Again, she looks clean... As if having bathed thoroughly only hours prior._  

 _"One day," She swallow_ _s_ _before continuing._  

 _"-perhaps you can show me around there?"_  

 _Levi frowns, clacking his tongue which in turn makes Nyx grow restless. She shakes her_ _manes_ _, forcing Elena to let go of the rein she'd been holding._  

 _"You want to visit a cold and lonely place?"_  

 _For a while_ _,_ _only the rustling of leaves in the wind and the distant barking of dogs fills silence between them._  

 _"Well, it's not much different from here then." She shrug_ _s_ _, her voice wavering as if she_ _is_   _about to laugh in bitter sentiment._  

 _Levi's lungs_ _are_ _heavy in that moment and though she d_ _oesn't_   _look up at him after those words, it still communicate_ _s_ _more than Levi desire_ _s_ _to know of her._  

 _"Except that your heart lays here." Levi murmurs quietly before turning_ _Nyx_ _around and galloping away._ _Almost petulantly he did not grant her time to reply to this, the reason as to why unknown to even himself._  

 _No matter their peaceful exchange, the bruise on her cheek had been a thorn in Levi's eye. He'd stared at it, convinced he was to blame for it. After all, Kenny's change of heart had not happened out of nowhere._ _Certainly,_ _Elena had had a part in changing the man's mind and had paid for it._    
_But there's no hard feelings, not on the surface that is. She had just seemed timid and emotionally beaten at least twice as much as physically._

 

Despite it all, despite his conscience and instinct, Levi returns to Kenny once again and lies blatantly. 

"The king's chosen Miss Elena." 

Kenny looks surprised for once, eyes widening before they squint into a frown. It takes all self-control to not look away or twitch on the spot, instead Levi manages to stare him in the eye, unmoving, bored. 

"She wasn't even on the list." 

"I've shared with him her excellent knowledge regarding anything that involves the wines." Levi lies blatantly, his ears ringing and mind screaming at him as to why he's doing this. Why is he risking his safety for- for... for what exactly? Get Elena to the city. And then what? Why?  

To steal from Kenny. Like Kenny had stolen from Levi, over a decade earlier. 

His jaws clench when fingertips of his past start prodding at him, ice-cold and sharp. Persistent at first but Kenny makes sure to interrupt Levi from his turmoil. 

Kenny, though not convinced, seems to ponder over the reason behind Levi's lie. He scrutinizes the shorter man, rubbing his own chin before glancing over his shoulder. Not a second later, the door behind Kenny opens and the young man going by Reiner enters the house. 

"Reiner, fetch Elena."  

The blond man pauses suddenly in an almost comic fashion, staring at his boss for a split second before he nods with a grunt. Placing down a heavy looking duffel-bag, Reiner then proceeds to leave as quickly as he came. 

"He's allowed to just walk in here without knocking?" Levi asks, his nervousness trying its best to seduce him into an argument. A distracting argument, that is. Kenny scoffs at him. 

"Only those who can be trusted may enter my home freely. After all, he's not shown me any signs of betrayal whatsoever. Hell... he's a more loyal man than my own family, it seems." 

Levi, though agitated at being reminded of him being the man's nephew, ignores the remark. 

"Since when do you trust people?" 

"Not everyone's a traitor, Levi." Kenny raises an eyebrow at him. Only when he smirks does Levi notice that he's been grinding his teeth at the man's insulting and backhanding commentary. 

Betraying this man by saving his own skin had happened over a decade ago. Levi, though in denial at most times, knows there's guilt nipping at the back of his conscience. After all, he'd left this man –his uncle- without a glance back, without even a goodbye. 

Then again... Kenny's never been a saint and is not undeserving of having people turn on him. 

Regardless, Levi's loyalty allowed him no peace in the last ten years. His conscience, to this day, still heavy. 

It doesn't take long for Reiner to return, Elena on his heels, appearing surprised to see Levi once inside. Their eyes meet and she immediately looks down, hiding her face behind her long hair. Levi doesn't move an inch, instead looking back up at Kenny who didn't miss the exchange going by his darting glances. 

"Sorry for the wait." Reiner apologizes even though they barely had to stand in awkward silence for two minutes while he was gone. 

"He had to finish an errand." The young man concludes and Levi stirs. 

Once more his gaze travels towards Elena who doesn't seem to have noticed Reiner addressing her as being of the opposite gender. A look at Kenny, though, shows a clenched jaw and a slow predator-like blink towards Reiner.  

"Has he finished the errand with Elena?" Kenny queries and Levi doesn't buy the twist in the story for once second. 

Of course, ... of course. Her skinny posture, her sharp jawline, her Adam's apple and small chest. It all leads to- But Elena's voice. It's light and high like a woman's or perhaps a very young boy.   
Despite the likeability of Elena indeed being male, Levi doubts very much Kenny would fool around with a male. He's only ever seen him flirting with women. 

Or is he wrong about this? Does he not know the man as much as he thought he did? 

"Y-yes, sir. She has." The young man catches on quickly though his stutter and the shifting of weight from one foot to the other betrays nervousness.    
It takes all of Levi's willpower to not move a muscle in his expression when Kenny –after dismissing Reiner- scrutinizes him closely. 

"Can I?" Levi asks, getting impatient the longer Kenny has his eyes on him. The man is back to grinning a split second later, beckoning Elena closer with a wave of his hand.   
The girl, or 'girl', comes to stand in front of them, her head still ducked and hands folded in front of her. 

"Miss Elena, the king has informed me of desiring your hard-working presence in the city. In exchange for making wines you will be provided with running water as well as electricity inside a humble home you're to occupy that is located outside of- but near the palace. You as well will receive two meals a day. You're free to leave the city from Friday to Sunday if so desired."  

A silence follows after Levi's explained the offer and he takes a step back, bowing lightly before looking at Kenny who's staring at Elena. His expression, though amused as if mocking her, is tense. He, as much as anyone in the village, knows that if the king requests a single person from their citizens that no one has the right to refuse him this. If one would not want to work in the city (which is unlikely as conditions are tenfold more desired than in this stinking town) his majesty can still force them. There's no exceptions but one, that is if a lady happens to be married and her husband is of great enough importance to a point where his presence is needed to keep the place running. 

Such as, for example, Kenny. 

However, they're not married and Levi doubts Kenny would go through the effort and painstaking shackles of marrying a pitiful individual if only to keep them in his claws. He's enough women to corrupt and claim. 

When Elena is about to speak up, her head once more raised and large emerald eyes shyly meeting Levi's gray ones, Kenny steps in. She flinches when he wraps an arm around her shoulders, coming to stand next to her before meeting his nephew gaze with a grin. 

"She ain't going anywhere." Kenny murmurs, his pupils a little wide, as if growing incredibly territorial. Levi stirs. 

"Tell your king to go over the list once more. I didn’t write down her name for a reason." The fingers on her shoulder squeeze, she frowns at the force of Kenny's hold. 

"Then again. Maybe it's the first time seeing that paper. Your majesty may well not be aware of your shenanigans,  _boy_."  

Levi's jaws clench, knowing it had been stupid of him to try and trick the man. He hadn't even tried that hard in all honesty. He'd been reckless, cheeky. The man bites the insides of his cheeks, trying to make sense of what his initial plan had been. Vengeance? That's what he told himself, right?   
He'd scoff at himself had he not feared for Kenny to grab him by the throat were he to so much as chuckle in this very moment. 

"The king's will is law." Levi simply replies, ignoring the truthful accusations with what comes close to arrogance. Or rather delusion.  

Kenny pauses for a moment, he seems to ponder and before he's even opened his mouth Levi already knows what's going to happen. His stomach drops as his uncle squeezes Elena closer to his side and speaks once more. 

"We are engaged."  

Elena looks as surprised as Kenny appears proud. The color fades from her cheeks and Levi can tell that she's being held up by the man's grip rather than her own trembling legs. 

"Congratulations. I wasn't aware." Levi dryly states, glancing from the 'girl' to the man. Kenny pecks her roughly on the crown of her dipped head before widening his already shit-eating grin. 

"Of course, your king's welcome to send us some wedding gifts, perhaps even fund a honeymoon. After all I'm not as wealthy as yourself, for example." Kenny outright mocks Levi for not having thought two steps ahead and he's now left to suffer through his commentary. 

"But, if he wants Elena, he'll have to play the game by my rules." 

"There's no game, Kenny." Levi throws back immediately, though shifts when Kenny's smile drops and he lets go of Elena to take a few quick strides towards him. By instinct, before he can think of it, Levi's taken a step back. His shoulders square up when the man looms over him. 

"No game?" Kenny hisses and Levi's senses are so focused on the man that he can't hear or see anything but him. He shamefully flinches when Kenny grabs his face, thumb and fingers pressing into his cheeks painfully. The man pulls up his face, roughly, and their eyes lock.    
In that moment, Levi's braveness, cockiness, fades like snow underneath the sun. In that moment all he can feel is the fear he experienced as a child around his uncle. When he'd been beaten and subdued by him, countless of times, over the smallest of mistakes. 

"You think you can come in here and try and steal my slave right under my nose by lying and you don't call that a game?" Kenny's voice is a mere hiss, a whisper, quiet and threatening. His teeth bared like a growling dog's, nose scrunched like one too. 

"Did you really believe you'd outwit me with your pathetic little plan. Did you plot it for days, did you think about it at night and laughed at the idea of me not seeing right through your pitiful mask?" He squeezes harder and Levi slowly sheds the fear that had paralyzed him before. His hand comes up to wrap its fingers around Kenny's wrist. 

"Why are you after her? Hm? I thought you only got big, blond, well-spoken men to fuck your needy, prissy ass." 

"Am. Not. After. Her." Levi hisses back, his words slightly clipped and deformed by the pressure on his face. He digs his nails into Kenny's wrist until the man readjusts his grip, though not for the better. With the large hand now on Levi's throat, the man can speak freely though has to be careful not to piss off Kenny even more for him to not end up choking him. 

"Then why are you playing games, boy? You've always preached about soaring high, about bathing in freedom and fighting for a future but you're coming across like a suicidal fool right now. You know not to mess with me. Family be damned, I'll murder you." 

Though the last thing he should do right now is argue with the man, Levi's never been one to roll over and expose his stomach and throat to a creature eager to off him. Rather, the danger and fear allow him to take a deep breath for the first time in years. 

"Since when do you care so much about anyone?" 

Kenny scowls, the fingers on Levi's throat tightening as Levi's hit a sensitive spot. 

"As I recall, you've murdered more people than I can count on both of my hands." Levi presses on and Kenny snarls at him, squeezing his fingers and causing Levi to cough as he brings up his other hand instinctively.  

"As did you, you little shit, you-" They both stir when a loud thump sounds from behind Kenny. 

The taller man lets go as quickly as he'd grabbed Levi and glances over his shoulder after he's straightened his back. A glance around his tall posture shows Elena sprawled on the floor, unconscious. 

"Women." Kenny remarks in a calm voice, his anger gone for now. He walks towards his slave before throwing her over his shoulder and leisurely entering the kitchen behind Levi.   
"Come back in an hour or two, Levi. We'll have some tea and talk it over." His uncle says, though doesn't look back at him as he makes way towards the door leading to that specific hallway Levi's yet to enter. 

Levi rubs a hand over his throat, glaring at the man's broad back and the lifeless body of Elena swaying with every movement of Kenny's shoulders. 

Though the battle's passed, Levi knows he's on the losing end of an upcoming war.

* * *

 

_Thank you to[Bean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mopsieflops/) for notifying me the cursive part in this fic was messed up because of formatting errors. If any of you guys notice something like that that hinders reading, please let me know in the comments!_

 

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	4. PART IV

_**Please remember the earlier mentioned warnings regarding domestic abuse and sexual relations between Eren and Kenny! (I will no longer add chapter warnings as I feel they spoil the chapter, so please keep the tags and warnings in mind when reading this fic! Thank you.)** _

 

**PART IV**

_**Eren.** _

 

Waking up in the middle of the night, not recalling how he'd gotten in their bed in the first place, is no strange ordeal to Eren.   
There's been plenty of times before when he'd sit up with a start, skin covered in a layer of sweat, gasping for air, lungs heaving as his heart would pound after waking from a nightmare.    
A nightmare which likely would've been the same one –or at least similar to- all of the ones he's been having for the past two years. The subject of them always his mother. 

Despite the cliché having carried on for so long, tonight it's different. Eren does not recall having had a bad dream and nor did suffering from a headache when waking in the dark ever accompany him before. Or at least not such a severe one as tonight's. 

The youngster hisses, pressing the palms of his hands against his forehead, just above furrowed brows. After trying and failing to rub away the ache, Eren brushes fingers through his hair, following the shape of his skull until coming across a bump on the back of his head. Pressing down on it results in the boy wincing as a dull pain waves across his scalp.   
For a split second Eren assumes he's received a beating from his partner Kenny earlier that day. After all, those take place as often as his nightmares do. Though, when pondering over it for a few more moments Eren recalls what  _did_  in fact happen. 

 _'They fought.'_  He thinks to himself, and then- 

 _'I'm engaged!'_  

It takes actual effort to not pass out once again like he did in the afternoon. 

In a rush of panic, Eren desires to shake awake his partner and ask of him to reconsider. After all, he's far too young to be tied in marriage, let alone to a man of Kenny's standards, … caliber. 

Trying his best to ignore his pounding headache, Eren –in the dark- pats the spot next to him, disgruntled as well as relieved when noting that Kenny is not there.   
Of course, he isn't. He's likely too busy fooling around with local prostitutes because often times he'll rather pay for a willing lay than have to bicker Eren into spreading his legs. Or perhaps, at times, he prefers the warmth and receptive wetness of a woman over Eren's boyish insides. 

Whichever it is, it's an appreciated absence as Eren needs this moment to chew on the fact that he'll end up marrying Kenny rather than serving him in various manners until he's free to leave when the man grows tired of him.   
Kenny is not a man to tie himself to another... Not in such fashion. Therefore, Eren never quite suspected of him to go as far as to marry him. 

After all, divorcing is as sinful and frowned upon as homosexuality is, if not against the law. Regardless of Kenny claiming he does not play by the rules, there's still a sense of shame in him about certain aspects such as his sexuality that frustrate him to a point where abusing Eren is justifiable. And Eren suspects possible divorce might be defined as losing face in front of his people to Kenny as much as fooling around with a boy would be. 

Eren isn't Elena for nothing. 

So. Why did he do it? Out of spite?    
By now Eren's aware that Kenny is not too fond of his nephew Levi and the proposal seemed to be a tactic to ward off the man. Levi apparently having chosen a better life for himself some time ago has rubbed Kenny the wrong way.    
Though not aware of the whole story, Eren's observant and subtle enough to catch wind of many rumors and so he's heard of a turmoiled past between the two men, ages ago.  

Another stabbing jolt of pain urges Eren to stop trying to figure out either one of them and instead head to the bathroom for a glass of water. 

When getting up carefully as to not have his buckling knees give way under his weight, the boy's disgruntled at taking note of Kenny having taken the time to dress him in sleeping garments yet not tying together his long hair.    
The result being the boy's now stuck with a mess of knots in the nape of his neck as strands of hair have chosen to tangle into sticky chunks.  

Ending up not only having a glass of water but as well washing his hair, a far cleaner Eren exits the upstairs bathroom half an hour later, though is stopped in his tracks when catching muffled voices coming from downstairs. 

 _'Levi.'_  Eren recognizes the short man's voice before he does his partner's and pays only half a mind to the fact that he's already pacing towards the staircase. Eren's desire to eavesdrop –coming from his curious nature which has gotten him into trouble as many times as it's saved his skin- urges him to descend the steps in the hallway. 

Being careful to place his weight on the outer sides of the wooden steps rather than the middle which would result in loud creaking, Eren goes down the staircase. 

Once his feet touch the cold surface of the hallway's tiled floor, Eren leans forward to place both hands and an ear against the closed door behind which the kitchen lies. The wood of it is thick, the edges of the portal fitting almost perfectly into its frame and combining this with the low volume in which Kenny speaks, Eren finds it difficult to pick up any words.   
Levi's replies are even softer than his uncle's and Eren scowls as he fails to understand anything that they're discussing. His curiosity urges for him to peek through the keyhole but he does not dare risking having Kenny swing open the door into his nose. He's got the hearing and eyesight of a damn hawk, so it wouldn't be surprising if that'd occur. 

Pouting in a petulant fashion, Eren gently pushes his weight off the door and turns back around, deciding that there's no point in risking getting caught when there's nothing in return for it. 

Yet, when halfway up the staircase, the door at the bottom of the hallway clicks open.   
With the force in which Eren turns around, the boy nearly topples over and ends up leaning awkwardly against the wall as he looks down the steps.   
Luckily enough, Kenny has yet to face him, and he takes the opportunity to adjust himself to a position which makes it look like he'd been traveling down the staircase rather than up. 

Despite Kenny not having witnessed the awkward happening, someone else has. 

Past the man's tall posture –which in front of the soft light coming from the kitchen is surrounded by an ironic halo- Eren's eyes lock onto a pair of light gray ones. His stomach flutters when he sees Levi standing in their kitchen, his facial features showing nothing but plain boredom, even though their eyes are meeting over Kenny's shoulder in an almost secretive manner. Or perhaps that's wishful thinking on Eren's end. 

Regardless of the moment lasting no longer than a split second, by the time the man's focused his gaze back on Kenny who's looking over his shoulder at his nephew in order to address him, Eren's left lightheaded.  

"Couch is yours for the night." Kenny grunts at Levi before turning around to exit the kitchen. Eren makes haste to adjust his position, lifting a hand to his mouth and acting like he's stifling a yawn while descending a single step as if he'd been walking down the staircase this entire time. 

"Elena." Kenny murmurs and despite rubbing knuckles into the corner of his eye, Eren still notices how quickly his partner closes the door behind his back. 

 _'He's hiding him.'_  Eren thinks, though acts dumb when Kenny meets him halfway up the staircase.   
The man throws an arm around his shoulders and Eren leans into the embrace, insincerely willing and receptive, with an empty cold in his gut. 

Part of Eren knows that regardless of his cruel nature, there's more to Kenny than meets the eye. He's not all violence and manipulation, though granted, a great part of him is. Plainly stated, Kenny is complex, flawed and deeper than one might believe when standing face to face with his grudge-holding persona. It takes a lot of digging, a lot of sugarcoating and careful threading to find out that if you treat him right, he won't end up choking you to death in your sleep. 

Yet, no matter all that, Eren accepts that this man's observant and possessive nature cannot be trusted and hence he melts against Kenny's chest to ensure their night goes a sensual way rather than an interrogating one.    
As much as Eren acts dumb, Kenny has the tendency to do this as well to lure the boy into tiny traps with huge consequences. So, he plays the man the only way he knows will ensure him a night void of any violent hands laid upon him. 

"I'm thirsty." The boy lies softly, nuzzling into Kenny's chest and wrapping his own arms around a narrow waist. 

"There's water upstairs." 

"I used it to wash my hair." 

"You forgot to drink?" Kenny asks with a snort, amused whenever Eren does something even slightly stupid.   
A hand rubs Eren's back and in return he exhales a soft moan. 

"Go on up, I'll bring you a glass." The tall man orders, pecking the young boy on the top of his head before he lets go and walks back down the steps. 

Eren obeys, exhaling shakily when assuming he's succeeded in fooling Kenny into believing that he hadn't even noticed Levi's presence, let alone is thinking of the man who's so crudely invited him to the city. 

* * *

 

The urge to sneak out of bed that night is near irresistible. Kenny snores loudly, exhausted after Eren had gone down on him for half an hour until the man had finally quit stalling and spilled into the boy's mouth.    
The taste of him lingers, even now, plenty of hours later. 

Eren stares at the bedroom door left ajar, longing to go through it. Yet, two long arms around his body and the promise of a beating prevent him from obeying his desire. A desire which to his young mind is left indecipherable.  

Not knowing a lot, not even a little, about the man presumably sleeping on the couch downstairs, doesn't stop Eren from being intrigued. Perhaps the unknown aspect of it is what draws the boy near in the first place.   
After all, from day one, Eren's been absolutely enamored by Levi. His mysterious personality, next to a dry and witty confidence cause the man to appear far more handsome than should be acceptable for anyone. As amazing as he seems, Levi himself appears not easily impressed whatsoever, and this alone causes Eren's playful ways to want to win a tug-of-war game with him. Hell, even just playing it is fine for the boy, no need to win. 

Likely, performing any game with Levi might end up in conflict and chaos. Despite his permanently stoic features –boredom and deadpan being the only two words Eren can come up with to describe the man's face to a T-  there's a dangerous edge to him. A sharpness, a sting even.    
Having lived with Kenny for two years might've soured his tastes in people he grows interested in. After all, Levi seems anything but the ' _right choice_ ' when it comes to finding a person he wants to get to know more closely.   
Kenny's mentioned –right before Eren had passed out- that Levi as much as himself had killed people in the past... The boy finds himself wondering why and how, but as well does he find that he has little amount of issues regarding this information.   
Besides that big alarm bell when it comes to labeling Levi as a person to stay away from, there's also the fact he'd shoved Eren against a wall in the stables after not agreeing to help him out regarding the wines Kenny is keeping from him. 

So, yes, the man's potentially dangerous. However, despite this... 

That moment, in the stables, though unexpected and frightening for a split second, moreover had excited Eren. Not only did it show him that Levi's more human than he lets himself appear to be, that he is flawed and takes wrong decisions, but as well did it assure Eren that Levi has no issues in controlling his own anger. Hell, there was no anger to begin with.   
Levi hadn't looked dangerous in that moment. Intimidating, certainly, like any stranger is when in proximity and cornering someone. However, desperation ruled his actions as far as Eren could tell. Not cruelty, such as Kenny is guided by. 

Then again, Eren does not have a ' _choice_ ' to begin with so why does he bother analyzing the potential in Levi? There's no escaping Kenny's web, but the hint at a taste of freedom tugs at the boy's heart-strings. Levi's the closest to the city Eren's ever gotten to. 

Since the boy had been a small child, his mother would tell him tales about the palace. The kingdom. A whole area of success and fulfilling dreams.   
Naturally, having been raised poor, in the slums with a beast such as Kenny himself to rule with an iron hand, Eren's been wanting to see the city with his own eyes. Experience it with all of his senses. 

Though living there is a farfetched dream not to be grasped by him, Eren's always used it to hold on to. It's kept him going plenty of times before when he'd wanted to just give up on being a good human being like his mother taught him to be. There's been moments in which he'd almost stolen food, medicines. There's been opportunities for him to defend himself with fists rather than words. And there's been times when he so easily could've accepted home-brewed drugs offered to him by companions. 

But, Eren's desire to survive fuels him with a fighting spirit. A spirit which has been temporarily subdued by no other than Kenny himself, but surely remains within him. It nips at the back of his mind, flutters in his stomach and urges his heart to skip beats at times he should maintain control. 

Regardless of him not wanting to end up a failure stuck in this hellhole, it seems that his future has been set for him. Now that Kenny's planning to marry Eren, the boy is more stuck than he was before. There's even less chance to escape now that the man will be in control of him not solely by intimidation but as well by law. 

Not to mention, he still has a grip on Eren's mother's life... 

Before his mind can delve deeper in thought, Eren's shaken from thought when a soft click resounds from downstairs. Immediately he recognizes it as the hallway door being opened from the kitchen. 

The boy's heart skips several beats when footsteps begin to ascend the staircase after a short pause.   
Trying to analyze Kenny's snores to figure out whether or not he's waking up, Eren holds his breath and listens closely.   
Though Kenny's face is buried in the boy's neck and this prevents him from seeing anything happening in the room, Eren still feels a desire to dim the oil lamp on their night stand and hide away in the dark with him. With the door opened ajar, Eren knows that anyone can easily peek inside from the pitch-black hallway and he won't be any the wiser. 

As Kenny keeps snoring rhythmically, Eren exhales in a shudder when a soft light dances in the hallway coming from likely another oil lamp being carried. The boy's eyes widen when a figure pauses in front of the half-opened door. 

The noise of rushing blood in the young boy's ears as it's being pumped by a rapid heartbeat nearly drowns out Kenny's persistent snoring. Regardless, knowing that he's asleep and recognizing the figure looking inside as Levi, allows Eren to keep his green eyes wide open. 

The lamp Levi's holding illuminates his face in a soft glow, shadows dancing over his skin almost ominously as the flame flickers because of a draft. Nonetheless, again it's unreadable. Not a single tinge of emotion can be spot. Other than plain boredom on his sharp features, there's nothing. 

Too afraid to speak but as well to smile, Eren merely blinks at him and Levi returns the sentiment –to his surprise- with a nod. The man's eyes seem to flicker down, as if glancing at Kenny's arms wrapped around the boy's chest and waist, but in the dark Eren can't tell for sure. 

Wishful thinking, most likely. 

For a moment Eren allows himself to dream, to fantasize about Levi liking him and if it weren't for Kenny being a man who'd stab anyone coming close to ' _his Elena_ ' with a kitchen knife, Eren would've risked to say something. To move... To sneak out of Kenny's arms and slip into Levi's. 

The moment passes within a few beats of his heart, his hazy mind no longer at peace to escape into fantasy worlds for too long. Too on edge ever since Kenny came into his life. 

After all, even if Levi would have any interest in Eren, there's the fact that he is a boy. Not a girl such as the man surely perceives him to be. No one lays with their own gender in this day and age. Unless you're a filthy pig, such as Kenny. 

Such as Eren himself. Regardless of him not enjoying sexual actions with his partner, Eren still imagined it being Levi earlier that night when he was pleasuring Kenny.  

Levi's eyes meet Eren's and the boy blushes, irrationally afraid of the man seeing his thoughts play on his eyeballs like a story read out just for him. Eren casts his gaze down and grows nearly disappointed when Levi pushes off the door frame and turns away. 

When Eren can hear the man descend the staircase, he wonders why Levi had come up in the first place. His assumption has been that the man had been looking for the bathroom. But rather Levi's only spent time eying them for a minute before leaving once more. 

Perhaps he'd been wanting to talk to Kenny who still is snoring loudly in the boy's neck. Or maybe he'd believed Eren to have a separate room to himself.  

Would he have visited? 

He'd never be that bold, going by how he's been partially raised by Kenny in the past, he should know better. 

 _'What am I thinking?'_  Eren frowns, almost embarrassed but moreover outraged over so much as assuming a man of Levi's standards would ever sink so low as to want to interact with a plain, average young lady such as Elena. 

It takes another hour before the boy falls asleep. 

* * *

 

"Is that not the least you can do for me?!" 

Kenny scowls as Eren raises his voice at him.   
Though it doesn't happen often, Eren is aware that next to angering him it also causes the man to take him more seriously whenever he stands up for himself. 

The important part is that he chooses his battles wisely. His timing as well is of importance if Eren desires a shouting match over a beating. 

Last time around after all, Eren had been hit square in the face for having suggested making a deal over the wines with Levi. Regardless of it having worked, Eren prefers not to be physically assaulted and for a short while he'd felt anger towards Levi for having requested his help in the first place. 

But as is, the boy's emotions whirl intensely but are always short-lived. 

"The least I can do for you?" Kenny throws back. Hands are placed on hips while he stares at Eren, appalled at the boy's audacity for suggesting Kenny's doing nothing for him. 

Granted, he actually is. 

"Do I need to reminds you of the fact that I'm providing your mother of food and medicine?" 

Eren winces. 

"Your sick mother is alive because _I'm_  paying her medication.  _Not_  your deadbeat father who's walked out on both of you!" Kenny scoffs at the young boy, for now only raising his voice rather than a hand. 

"I've always loved the city, you know that." Eren urges on, a tad more careful but still brave, trying to keep his voice leveled. 

"This might be my only chance to see it for the rest of my life which I'm already spending with you." 

"Like it's so bad to spend your life with me?" The man chuckles, bitterly, glancing away for a moment. 

"You hurt me." Eren simply states, voice hoarse after having raised it earlier as well as because he grows emotional at the thought of being stuck in this town forever. 

As the man's gray eyes rest on Eren's face, the latter can feel himself shrivel into a timid pool of pity.  

"Because you don't listen." Kenny simply explains. 

"Neither do you." Eren tries and when the man remains silent he picks up the courage scattered around his feet and continues his accusations. 

"You can't just expect me to agree with each and every one of your views on what happens in and around our lives. I'm a person of my own, you know?" While speaking in a more softer tone of voice, cooing almost, the boy takes a few steps forward. 

"I know that I'm your servant, your helping hand, your lover. And I know that you are in control of me and my mother." He pushes on as he crosses the room slowly, reaching out and shakily taking hold of the man's left hand. 

"But-" 

Be it Kenny's possessive nature, sense of pride or something else entirely, Eren is aware that in some twisted way he does care about him. It may even be mere lust that urges the older man to put up with the boy's manipulative ways at times, nevertheless there's something there that has ensured the boy's survival for the past two years.   
But it's not love, Eren knows when he looks up into the man's eyes which are as deceptively calm as they are eerily dark in that moment. 

"But, please be kinder to me." Eren murmurs. 

Such as Levi is unreadable because of his face remaining without expression, Kenny's unpredictable because he can swap from one emotion, one opinion, to the other in absolutely no time. Without any warning. 

Hence, Eren gasps in surprise when after standing on the tips of his toes to arch up for a kiss, the palm of Kenny's right-hand hits him full force on the cheek. 

Dizzy from the slap that sparked white stars into the boy's vision, Eren nearly topples over when Kenny grabs him by the face like he did Levi a few days ago. His hands grab a hold of Kenny's wrist though he is clever enough to not try and escape. Wide eyes meet narrowed ones. 

"What is it you're plotting with Levi behind my back?" Kenny whispers, towering over him as he takes steps forward until Eren's back bumps into a wall behind him. The boy swallows, growing nauseated at the fear churning his stomach. His ears ring and he takes a shaky breath. 

"This has nothing to do with him, Kenny." The boy assures in a weak whimper, his heart skipping a beat at the lie his conscious hasn't even picked up on yet. 

His lover observes him closely, scrutinizing, reading every inch of the boy's face. When he does not proceed to speak nor squeezes the boy's cheeks harder, Eren dares to continue. 

"You know I've been wanting to go to the city since I was a child. But you also know that I care about you, Kenny. I would not leave you behind. Not after all you've done for me and are still doing for my mother." The boy swallows when the man's grip on his face loosens.  

"Not after you've taught me how to make love." Eren adds, knowing that if anything works, it's complimenting their more intimate moments. Regardless of Kenny being crude and unkind, he still takes care of the boy's mother, not to mention that he keeps Eren well fed and allows him to bathe whenever they have water to spare. Though not sure he'd go out of his way to save this man's skin, Eren knows that next to resentment there's appreciation to be found within a turmoil of emotions he experiences over Kenny. 

He doesn't love him. Doesn't care much about him. But he owes him, and that keeps him tied to Kenny like no other bond at the moment. The reasons might be off, his mind may be shaken, but Kenny is important to Eren for a variety of reasons.  

And to a degree, he is aware of how to play him to make him believe there's more going on in the boy's heart than is actually true. 

"You've been my first in everything. You're all that I have. I've no one, nothing." Half-truths and full lies spill from the boy's lips as their eyes remain locked. Kenny's gaze lowers to the boy's carefully smiling lips after a short moment in which the boy keeps reminding himself of reasons as to why he should stay on this man's side. 

His mother. 

Kenny stays silent for a long moment and when he eventually let's go of him, Eren flinches because he expects another slap across the face. 

The hunching of his shoulders and squeezing shut his eyes seems to be the right reaction even though he doesn't receive another physical punishment. 

Kenny tilts his head sideways, as if intrigued by Eren's fear of him. Even a smirk curls up his lips. 

"Are you scared of me?" Kenny asks and like a cat toying with a mouse, he strokes his knuckles over the boy's cheek. The scrape of his dry skin feels sharp on Eren's burning skin. 

Swallowing down bile, Eren exhales slowly and with eyes closed he leans into the touch. His knees tremble, fear imminent as it always is after having gotten hit. His courage and cocky traits pushed to the background of his mind which is now highly aware of all the kid's senses. 

Opening his eyes, his gaze is met by an intense leer. 

"I'm scared of what you're capable of, were I to betray you." Eren confesses. For once he's spoken the whole truth. 

"As you should be, Elena." The boy's false name rolls in the man's mouth like smooth honey. A mere coo.  

"One day. One night." Kenny adds after a moment and Eren blinks, confused as he doesn't catch up right away. 

"Wedding day and night, spent in luxury, that's it." The offer shapes a careful smile on Eren's face, teeth bared between trembling lips. 

Though his display of happiness remains shaky, it's when Kenny pecks him on the head and let's go of him that Eren can finally breathe again. He inhales deeply as the man offers him tea. 

A peace offering in Kenny's mind. 

Eren takes it.

* * *

 

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	5. PART V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petra is OOC in this story. I used her for a bit of a villain role here.  
> If this bothers you, just imagine her being an original character with the same name, please.

**PART V**

 

To say Levi's surprised when Kenny takes up on the offer to have their wedding ceremony take place in the palace is an understatement. 

The man ponders over it for a while before someone sits down next to him at the lengthy dining table which would be considered huge had it not been dwarfed by the enormous hall it's placed in. 

"You're looking quite troubled." A voice jokes. 

Levi doesn't bother looking up but does take a sip from the tea that's been sitting in front of him for the past thirty minutes.    
It's gone cold. 

"I assume it's about your uncle, isn't it?" 

Annoyed at her prodding, Levi glances at the young lady to his left. 

"What are you after?" He asks her and ignores the grimace on her face at the crude intonation to his voice.   
Regardless of his cold shoulder, she gets straight to the point. It’s an aspect to her that he’d appreciate if it weren’t for her more secretive manners by now having come to light for Levi. 

"I was wondering if you have a date to attend to the wedding with yet?" 

"I don't." Is his simple reply. 

"The king's growing suspicious, you know?" She blatantly lies. 

Her hinting at Levi's sexuality annoys the man more than it offends him. Not because it's a rude thing to do, but moreover because she's only saying this in order to try and get the definitive answer that'll let her know where his preference in bed partners lie. 

Petra Ral has been tiptoeing behind the man ever since he'd arrived in the city alongside Erwin. They'd both been teenagers when she'd tried to kiss him under a table hidden behind a long cloth thrown over it. Their game of hide-and-seek lost when it had caused Levi to jump away from her so abruptly he'd bumped his head against the underside of the table. Besides the impact having given him a day long headache, it as well had rattled cutlery and caused a porcelain cup to tumble off and shatter onto the floor beneath.   
He'd been ashamed, deeply so. Not only because of breaking expensive china, not only because of playing hide-and-seek at that age, but moreover because every other teen had believed they'd been making out under that table. 

Petra on the other hand seemed very pleased over the rumors and to this day remains vague when it comes to their non-existent relationship. 

"I'm sure the king doesn't care about who I'm bedding as long as I do my job." Levi dryly states, staring into his cup of tea before glancing at her once more. 

Petra bites the insides of her cheeks in thought and the man can almost hear the gears and wheels turn in her skull as she plots. 

"Regardless, it's quite frowned upon being single at your age, Levi." 

True. An actual fact spoken from a mouth that tells lies on the regular. 

"I know you don't care much about what people may think of you, but they'll talk." She pushes. 

"Not to mention, you're close to Erwin and because of this you work for the king. I don't think it's advised to attend a wedding on your own. There will be prestigious people, after all. What with the wine tasting and such, and the visit of the infamous Kenny Ackerman." 

Levi's eyes settle back on his tea, wondering if it's enough to drown himself in. 

She makes good points, and though the pressure of it makes Levi want to rebel, he swallows down his old ways. Lays down his hackles and soothes his sense of pride poorly.   
He's part of the city now, the palace even. His king's reputation is at stake. 

Of course, he'd pondered over this part before. Knowing that going alone to a wedding would be a foolish thing to do. Even if there'd be no consequences, he still does not want the king to think he'd risk his reputation like that.   
Levi had considered bringing a random female with him, but the ones that are visiting have dates, the ones that are available are of questionable backgrounds.  

Petra is the obvious choice. Everyone already believes they're together behind closed doors. Everyone believes Levi keeps it secret in order to protect her from possible enemy forces. 

Laughable. 

"Fine." Levi agrees sourly and when after a pleased sound Petra goes to hug him, another voice interrupts them.  

"Levi. I was just looking for you." A deep voice saves Levi from an unwanted embrace. 

"Great." He murmurs under his breath, sipping from his cup of tea and glaring at the tall man pacing towards the dining table in a leisure manner. 

Petra, after having frozen for a second, moves away from Levi and gets up abruptly. She options for a pat on the man's shoulder, an ambiguous pat at that, before excusing herself.   
She's never been fond of Erwin after all, and rather leaves any room he might be in. The reason behind this Levi knows is mere jealousy. She already suspects Levi to be homosexual and the man closest to him is Erwin. 

God knows what goes on in her mind when she thinks of Levi and Erwin together. 

"She finally hooked you?" Erwin teases, watching her leave with a smile on his full lips. 

"More like backed me up into a corner. With a rusty machete." Levi throws back sourly, watching Erwin pull back the chair across of him before sitting down. 

Erwin chuckles, raising eyebrows meaningfully. 

"Date?" 

"For the wedding. Keeping up appearances." Levi explains and Erwin hums, agreeing. 

"I've found the man." The blond murmurs after a moment, going straight to business such as Levi prefers. 

"Good. I've tried to get the recipes in an honest manner." 

"There's no honest manner when it comes to closing any deals with your uncle. No offense." 

"None taken." Levi shrugs, rubbing his thumb over the ear of his cup of tea, lost in thought. 

Though he agrees with Erwin, he's still frustrated over the fact he hasn't been able to close the deal himself. He's disappointed that even being Kenny's nephew, he wasn't able to get the recipes from him. A part of him is certain he could've persuaded them from Elena though. Her wide eyes say more than her stoic body language after all. 

But at what cost? 

Regardless, there's no need to worry any longer now that Erwin's found a spy to figure out the wines that are brewed in Kenny's village. 

"What after he finds out?" Levi asks. 

"He doesn't need to find out." 

"He will." The man assures, knowing his uncle is not to be underestimated. 

"The king's got more power over this country than Kenny does. We could ransack the whole village if he threatens us." 

Levi grimaces, not too fond of the thought of innocent civilians suffering the wrath of a stubborn dictator and wealthy ruler.   
This is where the difference lies between a man such as Erwin and a man like Levi. 

Having come from a poor background, with a personality that's been forced into cold-heartedness rather than born as such, Levi despises having others suffer from his hands. No matter what wealth, what name he could receive from being cruel. He cannot do those things and look at himself in the mirror with acceptance.  

That's a subject they'll never see eye to eye on. Regardless, Erwin's a man who respects Levi nearly as much as he does his own king and therefore subtly changes the subject. 

"Why is he marrying anyways? Not to mention, why's he coming here to do so? He hates this place." 

Levi shrugs, almost certain Elena's convinced Kenny to do so but has yet to figure out how.    
Perhaps she'd done so during a heated moment between them. After all, they share the same bed... 

Hiding a grimace at the thought of his uncle messing around with a girl clearly close to half his age, Levi gives up on drinking his tea and slides the cup aside so he has room to place elbows on the table. Fingers tangled, he meets Erwin's gaze on him. 

"I tried to get his fiancée here, for the sake of getting the wine recipes, and might've pushed too hard too fast." 

"Why not get them out of her over there?" 

"I'm not interrogating the lion's lamb inside his cave. No matter him being my uncle, he wouldn't go easy on me questioning his plaything under his very own nose." Levi replies dryly, not quite convinced of his own reasoning behind leaving Elena out of it for the greater part, but knowing Erwin buys his lies more easily than he himself does. 

"Besides, I thought I would've been able to get more from her than just the wine's formula. She may be fateful at first glance, but nothing a bit of coercing and a sum of cash couldn't influence to our benefit." Again, Levi is not being quite as honest as should be required when addressing the king's right-hand man. 

"Like a spy?" Erwin asks and Levi nods once. 

"Either way, he got the wrong idea. Thought I was after his girl and figured out that if they marry I have no grounds to take her away." 

"You had the king's word for it then?" 

"That's what I told him. Truthfully the king's as much aware of this part of my failed plan as anyone else. I tried something and it backfired. Though," Levi pauses for a moment, glancing around the room before resting his bored eyes back onto Erwin's ice-blue stare. 

"I don't know how she did it but she's convinced him to have the ceremony happen in the very place he despises. So maybe the spy won't be necessary after all, if we can coax it from her." 

"Maybe Kenny has an agenda of his own for coming here? An attack, perhaps." 

"To overthrow the royal family? I doubt it. He doesn't give a rat's ass about this place except that he'd like to take a shit in everyone's backyard. All Kenny wants is to rule his little village like a cult, fire guns, ride horses and chew tobacco." The shorter man sourly murmurs, knowing that even his uncle isn't dumb enough to try and murder a member of the royal family. He'd be swatted like a fly in no time, his whole village and the trust his people have in him now would be burned to smithereens.  

Hence, he sees no danger in having Kenny visit the palace, especially since he's only bringing his bride-to-be and two helpers. 

"He just wants to be in control of what he finds to be important to him." Levi adds as he gets up, Erwin follows his example. 

"His town and his girl and in the past, me." 

The two men walk towards the double doors that lead into a hallway in which a marble staircase takes up most of the space. Erwin places a foot on one of the white steps, a hand resting on the polished support. 

"He might steal some silverware, though." The taller man half-jokes, raising an eyebrow at Levi who glances at him from over his shoulder as he's about to leave the palace.  

"Fair trade if we manage to get a recipe which will ensure the city more tourism and income." Is his comeback before exiting the building and stepping out into a sunlit day. 

Levi clacks his tongue at the weather, squinting up at the sky and grimacing at the prospect of having to travel hours in this suffocating weather. 

Nyx, already saddled and awaiting him next to a young-looking servant, shakes her manes, as annoyed as her owner by the hot sun. Levi strokes her nose, nodding at the boy when he hands over the reins and finally climbs into the saddle. 

"Back we go again." Levi murmurs, steering her around to leave the city and travel back to Kenny's village. 

* * *

 

A landslide after a weeklong downpour that had occurred recently, blocks the direct path to the village and Levi is forced to make a detour.   
Highly disgruntled at this, he has to accept the fact he'll be arriving much later than he'd planned and when figuring out it'll be evening either way, he allows Nyx to drink and graze for a while. 

Laying in the grass, rifle next to him, the man stares up at the sky above. At least the building of white clouds blocks most of the sun's rays and though the day remains bright, temperatures are cooled down with every breeze that rustles the grass around him. 

Though he's used to sleeping with one eye open, so to say, Levi does lose track of time after a while and it's only when Nyx bumps his elbow that the man awakes. 

His eyes meet a single pitch black one, framed with long lashes and black fur. Levi pats her cheek after removing his hands from under the back of his head. 

"Thanks."  

Continuing on their way, the man's grateful she woke him up in the first place as not long after they leave, the sun begins to lower in the sky. 

He reaches the village well into the night and after explaining the landslide to three separate guards he is finally allowed to enter.  

The whole town is asleep as Levi walks next to Nyx, their pace slow and sluggish. His boots grind in the dirt below and as expected there's no one to receive his horse when he reaches the stables next to Kenny's house.   
Regardless, he's been here before and when no one opens the front door after Levi's knocked on it three times, he lets himself into the shed next doors. 

Nyx is visibly relieved when he unsaddles her. Her coat appears warmer with the light of a nearby oil lamp that Levi turned on when entering and he brushes dust off her nose with a bare hand. 

"Good girl." The man murmurs as she eagerly eats the food leftover from the previous horse that must've been here. 

Once she's settled down, Levi turns around and nearly slips into cardiac arrest when seeing someone behind him at the entrance. Granted, the other person is as surprised as he is and while he flinches, she yelps. 

Elena brings up a hand to her own mouth, the other one grabbing the door to support to weight of her weak knees after the fright of seeing an unexpected visitor in the stables. 

"Good night." Levi dryly remarks after collecting his composure and walking towards her. She looks clean, her hair glowing and a little frizzy as if partially wet still. 

"We were expecting you tomorrow-" She says. 

"-after you didn't show up today." 

Levi nods, walking closer and observing her features which still make her look a little on edge though her green eyes are open in more than the literal sense. Her already olive skin glows in the warm lighting. 

"There was a landslide and Nyx had to rest because of the long trip and the hot weather." 

At the mentioning of his horse, she perks up and glances over Levi's shoulder, her lips tremble as if she was about to smile before stopping herself. 

"Of course. Is she okay?" 

"She'll be fine. Just needs to rest." Levi assures her, noticing too late that he's standing a little too close to Elena when she glances back at him and he can make out each individual eyelash.   
She notices at the same time, taking a step back abruptly and bumping into the side of the other door she'd left unopened. Elena winces but Levi acts like nothing happened and instead just stares around her into the darkness. 

"Why are you here?" He asks her, pointing out the time by directing his gaze outside. 

Elena straightens up, grasping her own lamp more tightly while she turns off the one in the stable next to the entrance. 

"I heard sounds coming from the stables." She shrugs awkwardly before exiting the shed. Levi follows her into the night, closing the door behind him. 

"Isn't it dangerous to just go out like that?" He questions her, suspicious of why she would risk her skin to go out in the middle of the night after hearing some noises. Not to mention, if she heard, how didn't Kenny? That man is aware of everything that happens in a two-mile radius of him, exception being that one night he'd been snoring into Elena's hair.   
A night that he’d rather forget about, considering how idiotic he’d acted by going upstairs to try and have a chat with Elena. He’d been tired and had drank a tad too much of the Whiskey Kenny had left for him. A poor excuse, even for a man as in denial as himself. 

"I heard a horse, a dangerous man would not take time to unsaddle his horse in our stables." She mutters, a frown on her face as if she's annoyed by the man's prodding. 

"And yet you looked quite frightened seeing me." Levi mumbles jokingly, though doesn't smile. Regardless, she seems to catch up to the lilt in his voice because an uncharacteristic snort resounds from her. 

Glancing at her, he can tell she's embarrassed of the sound she'd made, her jaws clench as she perpetually doesn't meet his stare. Her green eyes remain focused on the fields across of them, her arms hugging herself when a breeze picks up.    
Levi watches her for a moment longer, a peace settling over him momentarily as they're only surrounded by the rustling of leaves and the dull dark of a sleeping world. 

"I made food for your visit." Elena says after a while before she starts walking. Levi, feeling like he'll need it, lights a cigarette before following her. Her ankles are bare under the rim of her sleeping gown which sways gently with the movement of her hips and legs. An odd detail to notice, Levi scolds himself though can’t help but appreciate the delicate curves of her narrow ankles. 

"But you didn't come so I ate it myself." She adds while they walk further out. Levi frowns, wondering if she's trying to be funny or if she's just rambling for the sake of it. Paper crackles as he takes a deep drag from his cigarette.    
Her hair is glossy. Healthier than he thought before. Levi watches her closely as she walks in front of him, not looking away once.  

By the time he finishes the stick of tobacco, she's told him a dozen facts about potatoes –including how to grow them and what dishes you can create with them- and he finds himself in a field of tall grass. Except for the outline of a forest to his right, there's only a black sky above with a moon that cascades the grass in silver to accompany them. No house. No human being. Nothing but them. 

A long silence muffles his thoughts before Elena breaks it. 

"I drugged Kenny." 

"Come again?" Levi almost sputters when Elena blurts the accusation at herself. 

She glances over her shoulder at Levi before turning around to face him. Her eyes dart around, as if expecting anyone to pop out from the tall blades of grass and tackle her to the ground for what she said she's done. 

"I drugged him." She whispers now, stroking hair behind her ear before once more embracing herself. Levi glances around, wondering if this is a prank. 

"I mean, I've done it before." She admits after a moment, again meeting the man's eyes as if to try and tell whether or not Levi's offended at having an unknown girl poison his uncle. 

For the record, he's not. 

"Why?" The man questions her motives, raising an eyebrow, close to amused at the rather criminal confession from a fragile and innocent looking girl as herself. 

"For some peace and quiet, you know?"  

When she sits down, Levi follows her example, both of them hidden from the outside world in a cocoon of silver grass. She wraps her arms around her legs, resting her chin on knees. Levi watches her toes curl and uncurl in her sandals. They're long, reminding him of a monkey's, and he has to bite his cheeks to not chuckle. 

"It's not that I want to do anything bad behind his back. It's just that I want to have some calm moment to myself." 

"And sneak out." Levi adds, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She glances back, scowling for a second before directing her attention to nothing in particular. 

"Well, that was just coincidence." She mutters. 

"You drugged Kenny while knowing I was coming to visit?" Though he phrases it like a question, it isn't. 

Her shoulders stiffen visibly and she looks away from him when shrugging. 

"I didn't think you would come." 

"But you hoped for it." Levi boldly states and though his own heart is pounding at even the thought of attempting to try anything with Kenny's maid, he watches her intently in order to read her every thought. 

Another breeze passes by, grass tickling the back of Levi's neck. Her hair gently sways along and he wants to touch it, just to see how she'd react. Her emotions for him are obvious. He is likely close to a decade her senior, he can read her more than she believes she's skilled in hiding her emotions. 

His hands fold into fists. 

"So, what if I did?" Elena asks, rhetorically, though more truthfully than she lets it out to be. 

"Well, that'd be troublesome when married to a man like him." 

"We are not married yet." She throws this back at him so quickly with such a sharp tone in voice that it convinces Levi she's in this position against her own desires. His eyes flicker over her features which appear less friendly and laid-back than before. 

"Besides. What would it be to him if I'd have conversations with another human being?" 

"Apparently a big deal seeing that you had to drug him in order to talk to me." Levi suggests dryly, watching her grow more flustered with every comeback he throws at her. 

"Perhaps because you're doing so in the middle of a field at close to two in the morning." He adds fuel to the flame and Elena tuts once, annoyance obvious as she frowns at her own feet. Her toes are curled tightly. 

"When else would I be able to do it? He watches me like a hawk." Elena admits, her voice softening as she says those words, as if she's reminded herself of the gloomy situation she's in.  

"Ah." Is Levi's simple reply, letting her know he understands her vision as much as he does his own, which is to say: almost fully but with confusing doubts and urging curiosities.  

They remain in silence for a while longer in which Levi zones out and Elena seems to grow melancholic, though her body relaxes over time. 

It's when she doesn't avert her stare when Levi catches her gaze that the man decides it's best to put a halt to whatever is going on in that moment. Even if only for now. The recent idea of coaxing some wine recipes out of her has plagued his mind all the way here. He could... It's possible. As before the excuse was that he wants some sort of vengeance for what Kenny's taken from him in the past, using her for something more palpable makes sense. 

He reaches out, patting her hand which is resting on one of her knees. She flinches, more in shock than recoil. 

"Let's get back. Big day is tomorrow and I'm sure you'll need all the rest you can get." Levi says to her, his face void of any personal opinion, voice lacking warmth as much as cold. She nods abruptly, blinking away as her cheeks darken, visible even in the night. 

During the walk back, though it seems shorter, Levi consumes two cigarettes, lost in thought.   
The moment they arrive, though, he feels like adding about five whiskeys to the mix when the front door swings open and Kenny stands before them. 

"Shit." Elena whispers next to him before she bolts towards her soon-to-be husband. 

When coming closer, Levi can tell Kenny is more than groggy and his heartbeat slows down marginally when watching the man hold Elena softly when she wraps her arms around his waist.   
Biting back a sting of... of anger, Levi greets Kenny when the man finally notices him. 

"Little late." Levi murmurs in apology, brushing a hand through his short hair while keeping his eyes solely on the man's face. The desire to peek at Elena is grand, though not irresistible.  

"No problem, kid." Kenny doesn't smirk or smile and Levi brushes it off as him being influenced by the medicine Elena's given him. 

However, his opinion changes when, after following the pair inside, he can see the couch is made for him. He wants to ask Elena if she'd made it for him or not but knows not to speak in the silence of the room.    
To his surprise, Kenny doesn't say another word, just wraps an arm around his maid's waist as they disappear into the kitchen, likely heading to bed together. 

Later that night Levi's sting of jealousy is buried under the suspicion that Kenny had made the couch for him and had likely been waiting the entire two hours for them to get home. 

If so... the man's wrath, whenever it'd come, will be unforgiving. 

* * *

 

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	6. PART VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rough. I should rewrite this more than just once, so I'm sorry if it feels hurried or not fleshed out :/
> 
> I hope you'll still enjoy. Thank you so much for sticking with me <3

**PART VI**

 

The morning after that night proceeds without incident. Kenny seems to be his old self, smirking and making inappropriate comments about Elena's figure while she grows more and more flustered at being embarrassed in front of Levi.   
Levi, though appreciating the lack of drama, suspects it being the calm before a storm. 

Before morning has started, they're on their way to the city. Levi rides in the front, guiding them back, while Elena and Kenny share a horse, flanked by Reiner and a young woman going by Krista. In the back of the formation are another two guards from the village as well as an extra stallion to carry the foursome's luggage. 

Levi suppresses a smug expression when it's confirmed that the landslide has yet to be taken care of, resulting in them having to take the detour and arrive a whopping four hours later than planned. Not so much is it the added time to their quest that satisfies Levi, but moreover is it pleasing to him that for once he was the one who had it right when discussing the landslide earlier that day with Kenny who fervently denied it’d cause any delay.   
It does not happen often he wins an argument with his uncle. 

"Glad you packed those extra bags now?" The short man calls over his shoulder and Kenny just laughs in return. It's confirmed the couple will be forced to have their ceremony take place tomorrow rather than that very evening such as they'd planned before. Meaning, they'll be spending three days rather than two at the palace. 

The trip is spent sweating and groaning by most of them though Levi remains quiet, absorbed in thought such is the case more often than not. 

Arriving in the late afternoon, Levi is relieved to be able to excuse himself after having handed over the visitors to none other than Erwin himself. He spends the following few hours taking a cold bath and dressing in a set of clean clothes before returning just in time downstairs to attend dinner. 

Seating himself at the table, Levi stares out into nothing, suffering a headache from having spent too long in the sun. Though expecting his sour expression to ward off anyone plotting to annoy him, Petra chooses to ignore the warning signs and sits down right next to him. 

"You're looking dapper, Levi." She compliments him, bumping her shoulder against his. Levi looks down at himself, momentarily having forgotten he'd dressed in a plain white button-up and black dress-pants. Perhaps his slicked-back hair and the unbuttoned collar of his shirt make her say this more than the actual outfit itself. 

Or perhaps she's kissing his ass. 

He thanks her from the corner of his mouth, relieved when Erwin sits down at his other side, knowing he'll be dragging him into conversations, away from Petra for the remainder of dinner. 

"You're looking exceptionally groomed today, Levi." Erwin mumbles under his breath, smirking when Levi glares at him for having close to repeated her earlier words. 

"I'm hoping the waiter will slip me some extra alcohol if I'm a bit more pleasing to the eye." Levi jokes and though his facial expression remains dry, he's pleased to hear Erwin chuckle. 

"We'll be needing it." The taller man says, pointing his chin towards the entrance of the dining hall.  

Levi follows Erwin's gaze until it rests on Kenny being caught up in an argument already with one of the waiters. Luckily enough, as the room's filled up with dozens of people and soft music, no one notices the discussion before it comes to an end. 

Elena looks stiff. Her eyes, though wide and observant of her surroundings, dull. Levi stares at her intently and as if she'd felt him look at her, their eyes lock within seconds. She gives him a nod, her lips not smiling as she grasps her skirt to lift it not even half an inch while bowing slightly at him. Her dress is beautiful, too expensive to have been purchased by Kenny and if he's not stolen it, it must've come as a hand-me-down from someone in the palace. 

Lost in the soft yellow backdrop and light blues of its flower-print, Levi's so focused on Elena's dress that he doesn't notice Petra calling for him until she bumps his arm with a sharp elbow. He jolts, blinking away and eying her warily, barely managing to not scold her. 

" _That'_ _s_  the girl he's marrying?" Petra asks, eyes wide and Levi remains quiet, never too fond of gossiping along with anyone if it's not for the sake of an important mission. 

"She looks young enough to be his daughter." 

"Kenny's not a man of morals." Is Levi's simple reply before he gratefully leans back as a glass of water is placed before him. When he sips from the cold drink, he wonders how old Elena actually is. He's been suspicious of her age before, as well as her gender. She either is a nineteen-year-old girl or a fifteen-year-old boy. The lack of documents she surely has makes it easy for Kenny to marry her, not to mention that the government rather not involve itself in the man's village and whatever happens there. 

So, gender and age are none of Kenny's worries. 

Seated at the head of the table is the king's spokesman. Likely Erwin –seated at the corner next to him- will be doing more of the talking to Kenny being the guest and seated across from him. 

Which makes... 

Levi glances over the rim of his glass at Elena who gingerly sits down on the chair next to Kenny, across of him. 

The welcome speech performed by the king's spokesman is short and stiff, the atmosphere awkward because everyone knows of Kenny's reputation. Regardless, though side-eying the village's leader, no one speaks their opinions out loud. Surely, people must be wondering as to why the king is fond enough of Levi to be inviting his uncle over for a wedding. 

Regardless... People will assume, people will talk, and Levi knows this as much as Erwin and the king do. 

Throughout appetizers Levi can tell how much effort it takes for Elena to not stuff her face with all the fancy food offered to her. She slowly seems to relax though still moves stiffly, as if she'd slept a whole night on a hard dirt floor and in cold weather.  

When Kenny is chatting animatedly with a heavy-set man who seems to be familiar with him, Levi glances once more at Elena. He's quite taken by her hair looking sleek and shiny, framing her heart-shaped face. The summer has tanned her skin and bleached her hair to a point where both their shades almost look identical. He even spots a few golden eyelashes which cast a shadow on her freckled cheekbones.   
By the time his eyes lower to her lips, they open, white teeth visible as her mouth moves to produce sounds. 

"Two years." Is what she says and Levi blinks away, noticing she's replying to Petra. 

"That's an awfully long time before getting married!" The older girl exclaims, her voice too loud for comfort. Levi glances at both young women, analyzing that Elena looks embarrassed and Petra looks too nosy for her own good. 

Elena wisely remains quiet, though Levi can tell there's irritation on the edges of her narrowed eyes and pursed lips. 

"Did you not spend nearly all that time taking care of your ill sibling, Elena?" Erwin chimes in and though Levi doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, she sits up at being addressed by the blond man. Her blush makes Levi snarl on the inside. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Quite humbling of you to care for your family rather than jump into marriage and start your own life." Erwin adds to it and the hint of a frown on Elena's face let's Levi know that his friend is talking out of his ass. Elena, though not the brightest, catches on easily as she must be used to living in lies with Kenny. 

"Thank you, sir." She says shyly, bowing her head at Erwin. 

"Quite the contrast to how you've been spending the past decade on your own because you can't accept no for an answer." He remarks with a smile as he leans forward to face Petra to Levi's left.  

Petra, looking absolutely shocked at Erwin's 'joke' -and granted so is Levi- gets ready to say something back to him when they're interrupted by a waiter placing down a plate of food in front of Erwin. 

"Oh, looks delicious." The tall man murmurs with a pleased smile on his full lips as he straightens up and gets ready to dig in. Levi knows the grin has nothing to do with the dish in front of him but everything with having drilled Petra into the ground. He’s always enjoyed playing games after all, seems to get off on trying to predict outcomes and dominate with words. 

Granted, her sneaky ways prevent Levi from feeling compassionate towards her and hence he ignores her frustrated huff. 

"This is the grilled dish I told you about." Elena speaks without being prompted, glancing at Levi and nodding her face at their food as to remind him of when she'd told him about potato dishes last night when they'd been sitting in a field of grass. 

Levi directs his attention towards Kenny, relieved when he is still interacting with his old friend, his laughter roaring. Elena seems to have realized her mistake as she stuffs her mouth with food and just chews, blushing, refusing to meet Levi's eyes. 

Petra looking at him is palpable even though he doesn't visually confirm it and though he despises having to explain himself because he normally doesn't give a rat's ass about what anyone thinks of him, he's a reputation to keep up... And Elena’s skin to save. 

"This morning on the way here, Kenny told her to explain a dish because he doesn't know how to cook and I was hungry enough to listen." Levi tells Petra in a low voice as he leans closer to her to make sure no one hears. If only to hint at her to keep quiet. 

She exhales an 'o', though Levi isn't sure she believes him. Petra, though obnoxiously obvious in her attempt at wooing Levi, is secretive enough to keep the man on edge at times.   
For some reason she maintains close to him, as if wanting to say something more and Levi wonders how long it's going to take for her to spit it out, but after a long while she just smiles coyly while moving back. 

A glance back shows Elena eying them from under her lashes as she cuts her food, though before Levi can say anything, Kenny interrupts him with a question about whether or not he can still eat a steak after living on these tiny portions of fancy food. Soon after he proceeds to suggest that perhaps he hasn't grown an inch since he left the village because of his lack of proper nutrition.   
Levi just shrugs, taking a bite from his dinner and lowering his eyes as to not prompt his uncle to pester him any further. 

Leave it to Erwin to distract Kenny with some peculiar question about local womenfolk. The tall man is not only shameless enough to be discussing prostitutes in front of the king's spokesman but as well arrogant enough to think Levi needs rescuing. Either way, Levi lets everything blow over and tries to enjoy his foods and drinks for the remainder of that evening.  

By the time nine o'clock comes around, the men are left alone to smoke and drink further as the women are excused from the hall to sit in the garden to chat and nibble fruits. 

Be it the alcohol or the long trip, Levi grows immediately bored after the women leave the premises. Though he's relieved Petra is finally off his back after having nagged his ears off throughout the entire evening, he's as well close to disgruntled he can no longer throw glances at Elena and catch her staring at him more than half of the time. Watching her grow flustered every time that happened had been an entertaining game to the man. 

Furthermore, Levi is surprised that Kenny hasn't excused himself and taken Elena with him upstairs to their chambers. He'd expected of his uncle to be paranoid and possessive enough to not leave her alone a single moment, even if around women only. 

 _'Then_ _again, -_ _'_  Levi thinks to himself, watching Kenny wave his arms around as he tells a story to an amused looking Erwin. 

 _'He's plastered.'_  

The tall man sways on his feet every other moment, his hand holding a glass of alcohol comes dangerously close to hitting passerby's multiple times and Levi almost feels pity for Erwin if it weren't for the fact that he looks rather entertained. 

Their eyes meet for a second and Erwin winks at Levi, raising both eyebrows meaningfully. Levi, in return, only grimaces back at him, deciding to call it a night.   
He downs his whiskey in one go, placing the glass on a silver tray carried by a waiter passing by, and proceeds to leave the hall without another word to anyone. 

When Levi is about to ascend the marble staircase, the sound of muffled voices can be heard to his left. A glance towards the direction shows him that there must be people in the library.   
It's not rare for people to go into the library as it's always unlocked, but it is a tad suspicious to go there at almost ten at night. Regardless of these facts, Levi is not a nosy person unless interested in something and so it's only when he recognizes one of the voices to belong to Petra that he pauses on the steps and glances back over his shoulder. 

The interest lays less in Petra than it does in what she's actually up to, which can't be anything good going by how much gossip she's been the creator of in the past decade he's known her. 

Sure enough, after he's sneaked into the library and has found her in the back of the dimmed room speaking to the girl he recognizes to be Krista, she's talking shit.   
Granted, Krista looks quite displeased by what Petra is telling her, going by the hands on her hips and scowl on her young face. 

"I don't appreciate you trying to make Miss Elena look bad, that is all." Krista almost hisses and Levi's impressed by the underlying ferociousness inside of her.  

"I don't need to do a lot to make that happen. It's obvious she's lower-class, not to mention marrying a criminal." 

"So, what? What is it to you? After this marriage you'll never have to see any of us again. We'll be heading back to our 'pitiful village' and never have to face anyone in here again." 

Petra clacks her tongue, a habit she took from Levi a long time ago, which has made the man do it far less often than before. 

"If that's the case, then why are you so fired up about me speaking the truth about Elena?" 

"Because it is not the truth and regardless of you being unimportant to us, I'll be damned before I let anyone try and embarrass Miss Elena like you tried to." 

"I think I succeeded." Petra adds dryly and though she keeps a cute face around Levi, the man is aware of her unladylike ways when it comes to her trying to make herself look better, more powerful and important. 

"I just don't appreciate your kind in my palace." The woman adds when Krista doesn't reply. 

"I don't think you have anything to say about that. It's the king that decided." Krista matter-of-factly states with a shrug. 

"I've plenty of influence on the king's men and-" 

"Whether or not you bed every man in the kingdom is none of my business. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've a bath offered by the king to attend to so I can scrub that filthy village dirt off my skin. Good night, Miss Petra." 

Levi watches the shorter young lady turn on her heels and ignore Petra's dropped jaw as she exits the library in haste. 

Levi, though having to have suffered through childish bickering, has learned two things. First of all, Krista is likely to be trusted when it comes to Elena's well-being, secondly, Petra is trying to spread shit around about Kenny's girl.   
If she'd succeed in doing so, Levi ponders for a moment what Kenny's take on it would be. The man doesn't care much about gender, age or background when it comes to performing vengeful acts. Then again, he seems to enjoy having bad rumors spread about him, as long as they don't cause for him to lose face to his people or get in actual danger. 

Annoyed at her audacity, Levi watches Petra exit the library after a short moment, her shoulders tense though her face is unreadable. He follows her example after a long ten minutes which he spends getting more and more irritated whilst replaying all that he heard and saw. 

 The rest of the night proceeds without further incidents as he spends it laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. 

* * *

 

The next day Levi has a hard time finding Elena. He wants to address her about the incident with Petra. Wants to know what happened, but moreover wants to assure her to not let it linger inside of her as well as warn her to remain careful around the tad older lady. 

After asking five different people, he finds out she's in a room on the first floor in the west wing of the building, fitting her dress and getting ready for the wedding which will take place in a few hours from now. Levi sure enough finds mentioned location as he sees Krista about to go through an opened door while Reiner stands outside of the room. 

"Miss Krista." Levi calls out, picking up his pace to reach her quicker.  

"Mr. Ackerman, such a pleasure to see you again." Krista greets him with a careful smile, bowing at him when he comes to a halt in front of her. Levi glances into the room, a mirror is attached to a low table on which various perfumes and makeup products are placed. Other than that he can't see much as Krista's hand on the door handle keeps it ajar rather than wide open. 

"Miss Krista, I need to speak to Miss Elena." Levi goes straight to the point and watches the young girl exchange a look with Reiner before the latter speaks up. 

"Sorry, sir, no one's allowed to see her before the wedding ceremony today." 

Levi ignores Reiner, instead looking at Krista until their eyes meet. 

"I was in the library last night." Is his simple explanation. She blinks at that before looking around in the hallway. Though she appears apprehensive and rather pale, she still nods at Levi and opens the door wider.    
Reiner, though frowning, seems to have faith in Krista's decision and besides glaring at the man, doesn't say another word. 

As he'd expected much more resistance or at least having to explain himself, Levi doesn't know yet what to say and instead stands in the dressing room, the door behind him closing and locking him inside with Elena who has her back turned to him.   
He can see her face in the mirror as she's putting in earrings and starts talking rapidly to Levi. 

"I can't believe this is happening. I'm going to end up an old woman knitting in front of her fireplace while her husband is next-doors trying to get a hard-on with a prostitute because surely my fat and saggy body is to be the blame for his erectile disorder." 

Levi glances behind him for a moment, wondering if Krista is there but confirms soon after that he's alone in the room with Elena and the latter has yet to figure out he's not the person she thinks he is. 

"Oh my god." She groans, slapping a hand against her forehead before she tries to blow air up towards her forehead, bangs flying up momentarily. 

"I need to redo my hair. Why did I wash it today? It's so frizzy, it's  _everywhere_ , it's going to fall loose and I'll look like a damn infant in a lacy tablecloth." Levi watches Elena undo her hair and it cascades down her back like a waterfall.  

Though he's been wanting to say something for the past few minutes, he again snaps his mouth shut when Elena asks him to hand her some hairpins from the cabinet to his left.   
Sure enough, he finds a few golden pins with pearls on them and grabs them before walking closer towards the young girl who seems to grow more heated with every passing second. 

"Is it hot in here? This corset is too tight. What if I pass out? You know Kenny is not even going to try and catch me if that happens. I'll crack my skull open and- Mr. Levi!" Finally, her gaze finds him in the mirror and she turns around so quickly that she knocks over various objects from the table she was standing at. Luckily enough, the carpet on the floor prevents anything from shattering. 

Levi, still reaching out hairpins towards her momentarily forgets that he's here to quickly tell her some things and then disappear. She looks beautiful, face to face. The tiny amount of make-up on her face makes her look more beautiful than a powdered face ever would. Except for blush and pink lips there seems to not be any more products on her face.   
Furthermore, her bare shoulders nearly make Levi forget she's Kenny's. Her skin is tanned as ever, but the heat she finds herself in cause her skin to glow in parts where bones stick out a tad more. His eyes flicker over her collar-bones, to her sternum and back up to her jawline, two love-bites on her throat burn his eyes. 

He swallows the words  _'you look beautiful'_  and instead just lowers his outreaching hand, folding it into a tight fist while clenching his jaws. 

"What- wh- why are you here?" Elena asks him, her face worried, frightful to some degree, as she leans back on the table behind her. 

Levi needs to remind himself in that moment that Elena does not interest him in any intimate way that would justify him growing angry over two hickeys on her skin. But there's a rage boiling in his stomach that temporarily makes him feel ill. He blames Kenny, as he always does. Though in this moment it doesn't make sense. 

"Petra." He mumbles almost awkwardly, staring into her green eyes. 

"She..." Levi closes his lips, annoyed how he finds it difficult to speak because images of Kenny latching to Elena's throat keep popping into his head. He wonders how much she enjoys his affection. She seems to despise Kenny, yet doesn't run, which she could... It'd be dangerous, but how she has not left him yet goes beyond Levi. 

She must like him. In some sick way. 

"Why are you marrying Kenny?" 

There it is. It just blurts out of his mouth without his consent and Elena seems as confused by the question as Levi is. 

"Excuse me?" 

Levi, realizing he has to roll with it now to not make a fool out of himself, continues. 

"You talk badly about him, why do you marry him?" 

Elena frowns and out of nowhere seems to grow irritated at Levi. 

"You let Mr. Smith embarrass your partner in public and didn't even come up for her and yet she still married you, didn't she?" 

Levi, not following in that moment just blinks at Elena, confused by what she's saying as he's not used to people not answering his questions. Let alone people barking back at him. 

"Granted, she's not a saint herself." Elena sourly adds before clenching her jaw. 

"What are you talk-" 

"Kenny is a good man, Mr. Levi. He takes care of me and my mother. I'm grateful for him and I do not appreciate you coming here and-" 

The loud exclaim from Krista outside of the room makes Elena shut up as they both listen for a split second. 

When figuring out that Krista is saying something along the lines of the unexpected visitor not being allowed to see his future wife in her wedding dress, Levi bolts. He opens the nearest door and finds himself locked in a closet at the same time the door to the room swings open. 

The silence that follows after the visitor closed the entrance behind him is deafening. 

"Elena, you look rather..." Kenny searches for a word. 

"Flustered." He concludes and Levi peeks through the closet door left ajar, seeing Elena looking at Kenny who remains out of vision for now. 

"I knocked over the perfumes." Is Elena's simple explanation, though she doesn't move to pick up the bottles scattered around her bare feet. Levi watches her toes curl into the carpet while her fingers fold into tight fists. 

She looks absolutely frightened.  _Guilty_. 

Kenny appears in front of her and Levi has to bite his tongue when watching the man place a hand on her cheek. His thumb brushes over her cheekbone, soothing, though Elena does not melt into the touch. 

After a quiet moment, Kenny brushes long strands of hair off Elena's shoulder and looks down at her skin which Levi, even from the wide distance, can tell is blemished. 

"Did you have a visitor?" The tall man asks, letting his hand slide from her cheek down her throat to her shoulder. 

"No." She stiffly says and after a pause Levi realizes why she'd moved so stiffly yesterday. Going by the bruises on her shoulders she either had gotten fucked thoroughly or more likely beaten up. He grimaces. 

"Then why are there foot prints right here between my feet? No men are allowed inside, you do know?" Kenny points out and Elena looks down at the imprints in the carpet they're standing on. 

"Krista helped me with make-up." Elena lies, looking back up to meet Kenny's calm gaze as the man let's go of her to take a step back. 

"She has some big feet for a girl her size." Kenny chuckles, looking over his shoulder at the closed door. 

Before the man has even looked back he slaps Elena across the face. The movement is so quick and the slap resounds so loudly that both her and Levi jump at the violence of it. 

For a moment, when Kenny towers over Elena who's fallen back by the impact of it, her weight resting on the low table, Levi can hear his own heartbeat. The pace of the muscle only increases when Kenny turns his gaze to rest on the slightly opened door behind which Levi is hiding. 

If he'd come here, if he'd open that door and see Levi, if he'd so much as assume what had happened between his nephew and his girlfriend before he'd entered the room... Levi knows he'll end up either dead or with some part of his body missing (hopefully a finger rather than anything a storage lower). 

Elena watches Kenny eying the closet and she takes a deep breath before improvising a lie on the spot. 

"It might've been my own damn feet, fitting shoes earlier." Elena lies before curling her fingers into the hem of Kenny's shirt and tugging him towards her. The man has no choice but to look at her, if only to not lose balance at her powerful pull. 

"You know it's bad luck when you see the bride before the wedding?" She asks him, looking up at him with an empty expression to her face, though her voice sounds firm, challenging. 

"A bit more won't hurt." Kenny jokes in a murmur, leaning down and meeting her lips which she pouts up towards him as she stands on the tips of her toes. Levi grimaces at their slow, deep kiss. 

Though not believing Kenny is this easily distracted from trying to figure out if someone is hiding in the closet, Levi just hopes for the best. And luck is on his side this time around. 

As Krista slips inside the room after Kenny's left, Levi joins the pair. 

"I'll have to fix this." The short girl murmurs as she lightly prods Elena's reddened cheek. She winces and Levi can tell her eyes grow teary. It can't be because of the pain Krista's fingers might've caused on her bruised skin. Rather, it is either to do with embarrassment or despair. 

While Krista picks up the products still scattered on the floor, Levi and Elena look at each other for a moment. 

"A  _'good man'_ , huh?" Levi repeats her earlier words when she'd been defending Kenny to him.  

Though Elena opens her mouth for a moment, her eyes shift and she purses her lips instead. After looking away from Levi, turning to face Krista who urges her to hurry up as the wedding is happening soon, Levi tuts once and barely manages to not roll his eyes. 

He leaves the room only to be stopped by Reiner. 

"It's in your best interest to stay away from Miss Elena. You're only getting her into more trouble."  

Levi eyes the man up and down, not at all impressed with his words and after chewing on his own words he speaks. 

"I'm not the one who's staying with someone who treats me poorly." Levi remarks in a low voice, not at all pleased at being blamed for Elena's misery. 

If she wants to stay with an abusive man like Kenny, that is her choice. If she wanted to escape she would've done so a long time ago. There's always some way out, surely.   
What even is tying her to him?  

The kiss flashes in front of his eyes as Levi descends the staircase. 

Kissing him like that, in front of Levi. Is that not a statement? Defending him. Coming up for him. But then gossiping about him behind his back to the very man she's been protecting Kenny against. 

To Levi it seems like she's playing a game, and if there's anything that'll have the man step away from someone it's when he feels there's dishonesty at the surface. 

He won't be played nor fooled and in this frustrated moment he even doesn't want to try and get her to tell him more about the wines.   
Which in turn reminds him of the fact that he himself is perhaps being nice to her for the sake of getting those recipes.  

Regardless... It never felt like that, not quite. 

* * *

 

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	7. PART VII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to get the Riren action started, my dudes ;)

**WARNING: sexual intercourse between Kenny and Eren.**

 

**PART VII**

_**Eren.** _

 

 

The wedding happens in a blur. 

Eren feels like he's incapable of breathing throughout the entire ceremony starting from walking down the aisle to mumbling an ' _I do_ ' to returning with Kenny to their private chambers in the late afternoon. 

As Kenny forces his head down on his length, Eren zones out with ease, pondering over how anticlimactic the wedding had been. Granted, he married a man he doesn't even love and furthermore Eren's never even cared about having a wedding before. After all, he's only a fifteen-year-old boy, putting a ring on a thirty-something man is the last thing he'd imagined happening for himself. 

Yet, even so, even though marriage means little to the boy, he rather not have it happen with Kenny. The only other people in the room had been Krista, Reiner, a priest and Erwin. Had he been marrying someone he loved, Eren would hope his mother to be present. This time around, he's grateful she couldn't see and he hopes she'll never get the news either. 

Eren gets so lost in thought and angry at the prospect of being stuck to this criminal for however long he may be desirable to him, that he accidentally has his teeth graze over the man's head.  

Kenny hisses, pulling the boy's head off by the hand he already had tangled in his hair. 

Eren looks up at Kenny, feeling bitter and melancholic as well as agitated that this is his husband now. 

"What did I tell you about using your teeth when you're blowing me?" Kenny asks and though Eren comes up with a dozen crude replies that would highly annoy the man, he chooses to play nice.   
After all this, the least he can get out of this shit day is attending the dinner and the after-party. Hell... if he gets lucky, Kenny might find interest in some attractive ladies and flirt with them rather than stay at Eren's side. He does enjoy embarrassing the boy after all. 

Besides... Eren's brought sleeping medication as well, to slip into Kenny's drinks if necessary. 

"I'm sorry, sir. Let me make it up to you." Eren replies, his voice sounding dead in his ears but going by how hard and horny the man in front of him is, it's good enough. 

Eren resumes pleasuring Kenny with his mouth, tightening his lips and moving faster in the hopes of having it end quickly but uncharacteristically he's told to stop. 

"I want to fuck you." Kenny states simply after having glanced at the Grandfather clock at the foot-end of the bed. The haste in which he throws Eren on the bed and positions himself between his legs causes Eren to as well glance at the clock. It strikes him odd for a moment as dinner is still two hours away and this gives them plenty of time to get ready... Or, is he really this desperate to fuck Eren now that they're married? 

Eren shrugs mentally, though isn't looking forward to the haste behind Kenny wanting to shove himself inside his body. The man pushes up Eren's thick skirts, rips down his undergarments until they dangle on one foot and then spits in his hand. 

The boy looks up at the ceiling, holding the puffy layers of his wedding dress with both hands to prevent them from reaching his face and choke him. Although... He might change his mind on that one. 

With only spit as lubrication and two quick fingers as prepping method, Eren squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his fists when Kenny pushes himself inside of him. The boy by now knows better than to try and tell Kenny to go slow, he has to bear with it and has learned that exhaling while Kenny enters him helps a lot more than tensing up. 

Eren can't stop himself from panting –of pain- once Kenny starts moving. 

Though at times he does touch Eren's privates while fucking him, Eren knows it's more to get himself turned on than it ever is to try and give pleasure to the boy. Regardless, pleasure takes no part in it for Eren most times and this time around is no exception. His hands remain clenched in the skirts of his dress as he tries to lift his pelvis higher and get a more comfortable angle which is hard to do as Kenny holds both his ankles to keep his legs spread. 

Only the sounds of Eren panting, Kenny grunting and the bed squeaking as the man's pelvis slaps loudly against the boy's buttocks fill the room for the following minutes.   
It's disgusting. Animalistic with no emotions or caressing like Eren's read about in Krista's books she leant out to him before. 

Luckily enough, Kenny often times doesn't take too long to reach climax and a mere handful of minutes later an end is put to the kid’s suffering. Eren calms his breathing, trying to not focus on how he can feel the wet heat inside of him after his husband spilled. 

A knock at their bedroom door sounds and when Eren glances to his right at the entrance he is mortified to note that the door is left ajar.   
It had been from start. He'd forgotten all about that. 

Muffling a whimper, Eren quickly pushes down his –what feels like- eighteen different skirts and sits up on the bed. Kenny doesn't even bother allowing Eren to hide, instead just shoves himself back into his pants and zips it up before opening the door wider. His belt remains unbuckled, the clanking of it a thorn in the boy's conscience. 

Matters get worse when Eren spots the visitor. 

"I apologize for being late." The man says and Eren feels his stomach flutter at the sound of his hoarse voice. Regardless of the argument they had this morning, he's already forgotten all about it, a childish tinge of excitement at seeing the man. 

"No worries, we were busy ourselves." Kenny grins, pointedly tying his belt around his waists and adjusting the collar of his shirt. Levi's eyes don't move from his uncle's face, but his jaws are clenched, his eyes narrowed. 

The mere thought of Levi having heard them, or worse, seen them having sex mortifies the boy on the spot. He begins to blush, pondering over whether or not Levi had seen and if so... would he have caught a glimpse of- of...    
Mentally trying to decide the angle in which Kenny and him had been laying on the bed and how much Levi could've seen from the creak in the door, it's likely that Eren's true gender is no longer a secret to the man. Perhaps the flaccid size of it would've kept it hidden... though that's possibly wishful thinking on Eren's part. 

"You wanted to see me?" Levi adds and Eren –for a split second- wonders if Kenny had been in a hurry because Levi had been expected to visit. Of course, that'd make sense.   
Then why fuck with the door ajar? Had he forgotten?   
Kenny is not a man to give the benefit of the doubt to. Nothing he does or doesn't do is without reason after all. 

The boy blushes harder now, in anger. 

"Yes, let me grab my coat so we can take a walk." Kenny confirms before strolling back into the room. 

Though he feels embarrassed, Eren stares blatantly at Levi, trying to make him look at him. Even if only to let him know that for him this morning's fight has already blown over. He's okay with it, water under the bridge, let's move on. 

But it doesn't happen. 

Levi remains in the hallway, staring down it while he leans against the doorpost.  

"Let's go." Kenny says as he returns, shrugging a jacket onto his shoulders before both men leave the room and the door is closed to leave Eren alone. 

As Eren spends a few moments in bed, staring at nothing in particular, he asks himself whether or not to go to the after-party in the first place. Kenny could be on his case the whole night and if Levi would be there, refusing to even look at him, it'd just end up with the boy feeling even more agitated than before. 

However, it's when remembering last night that the boy decides he shouldn't lock himself away for others. Petra had not only called him out on looking too young to be marrying a man Kenny's age but as well had pointed out how freckled and burned his skin was because of the sun, not to mention his Adam's Apple and the size of his feet were highly undesirable for a lady.   
Furthermore, she'd proceeded to say that real men should only want pale ladies with voluptuous curves who are short and delicate. Not scrawny, tall and long-limbed such as Eren is.   
She'd brought up Levi out of nowhere right after she had spoken this out loud in front of all the women in the garden.  

 _'My husband, Levi, would never be seen with a rat from the slums such as yourself.'_  

Though Eren was unsure as to why Petra had been so rude to him, going by how he apparently is anything but a threat to her, the knowledge of her being Levi's wife had hit him in the gut. Though Levi and him have no intimate relationship, the boy had been convinced that Levi favors him over most. Sure, he's only touched him once –on the hand- but the man is soft towards him. Hints of kindness linger around Levi when he addresses Eren and even if Eren is biased because of his crush on the man, he still believes he's not imagining this.   
They might not have flirted in any conventional sense, but how they interact with each other would never be considered acceptable for a male and female friendship. 

Hence, he'd been quite upset at this news, angry even. And still is. 

Deciding that he should not hide or act as a petulant child, Eren gets up from the bed gingerly and goes into the adjoined bathroom. A long hot bath calms him down immensely and once dressed in a white dress with frilly rims and a plain corset that Krista helps him with, it's almost time to leave to the large hall in which late dinner will occur. 

Kenny returns right on time, he doesn't bother to bathe though does change in a more casual suit than he'd been wearing for the ceremony earlier.    
They leave together and as they enter an already crowded hall, Eren wishes he could dump Kenny with someone else and just go outside to explore the city.   
Having dreamt of visiting this place for his entire life makes him itch to go out and see all the tales he’s heard in person. But instead Eren’s stuck inside a beautiful palace, with an ugly man holding him back from what’s in hand’s reach. 

This time around, people are more receptive to them, as if having warmed up to the village's bride-and-groom after they didn't cause any fights or stole any jewelry the day before. Eren doesn't trust any smiling face, the memory of Petra still fresh in his mind.   
He does return the smiles with a more timid one of his own, bowing and nodding and trying not to get weirded out by men kissing the back of his hand though they all thankfully leave some air in between their lips and his skin.  

By the time they reach the middle of the room and Eren's been greeted about a dozen times, Petra and Levi show up in front of them. The boy freezes, not having spot them from a distance because people had been blocking his view from the short couple and hence he hasn't been able to emotionally prepare to see them. 

Together. 

Arm hooked into arm. 

Petra cheerfully greets them, both her hands on Levi's arm while Levi just looks... Well, dead on the inside. He doesn't seem to enjoy the setting, nor the need to make conversation. Eren appreciates how he's dressed in a simple black suit, the only white to be spot on him is a neatly ironed cravat that cascades in vertical even creases. His black hair is shiny under the bright lights above them, looking soft with not a single strand out of place.   
By the time Eren allows his eyes to glide down Levi's long legs and then proceeds to witness a set of shiny black dress-shoes, Petra is once more speaking. 

"Nice to meet the married couple! How are you enjoying your stay?" 

For once, Eren shares Kenny's sentiment when he looks up to see the tall man grimace slightly. He hates overly friendly people as they're either cowards or manipulative. Or worse. Manipulative cowards. 

"Levi, you didn't tell me you had a lady friend." 

When Levi doesn't reply and Petra doesn't correct Kenny, Eren does.  

"Mrs. Petra is his wife, actually." The boy says to Kenny who in turn looks down at him to raise both eyebrows.  

"Is she now?"  

"Yes, she told me herself." Eren assures. 

"Yes, I am." Petra adds firmly –hastily- and Eren is surprised to see her glaring at him when he catches her eye. Before he has to figure out why she's angry over Eren helping her out, Levi speaks up. 

"No. Miss Petra over here is a friend. Obligatorily I've decided to bring a  _'date'_  as to not have influential people talk about my sexuality and bring the king to shame." 

All four of them remain in silence for a single moment before Kenny roars with laughter. 

Though Kenny takes it as a joke, perhaps because of Levi's dry facial expression, Eren puts two and two together. This explanation alone allows him to make more sense of Erwin's words during yesterday's dinner as he'd claimed Petra had been running after someone for ten years even though the person does not desire her. 

Perhaps that had been Levi then. And if so... This does explain why she's so crude to Eren as she likely wants every female to stay as far away from Levi as possible. 

She's jealous? Of someone like Eren? Laughable when noting she's a beautiful young lady herself if it weren't for her sour attitude. 

The misunderstanding between Levi and Eren seems to have been cleared up for the most part because when the boy glances at him, he's finally meeting his gaze for a moment. 

"Well, we must be going now, might get some extra alcohol snuck in if we sit at the table before dinner arrives." Levi crudely says and though Petra appears insulted at him confessing he's quite into the thought of getting a good amount of alcohol in his system, Kenny wholeheartedly agrees. 

Once they're seated at the table, in the middle of its great length, Eren notices how Petra makes haste in order to take the chair across from Eren. However, like the savior he seems to be, Erwin comes out of nowhere, blocking her path as he leans over to Levi and whispers something into his ear. 

Levi simply nods, moving away when Erwin does too and then Eren watches the tall blond murmur something to Petra. Whatever he says causes the young woman to scowl, annoyed, before she turns around and makes haste to leave the hall. 

Eren remains quiet as he watches Erwin take a seat across from Kenny and Levi casually sits down in front of Eren.   
Whatever had been spoken, he has no clue about, but he's suspicious enough to suspect that whatever the bigger picture, it's allowed Levi to take Petra's seat so Eren doesn't have to suffer meeting her eyes every other minute while drinking wine. 

Once the first course is brought, Petra returns, seated next to Levi and appearing highly disgruntled over something. Kenny murmurs to Eren that the food tastes like shit but Eren just ignores him, enjoying the warm richness of his meal. 

Contrary to the day before, moods are more relaxed. People talk and drink freely, the buzz of chatter and clinking glasses loud enough to almost drown out the music performed by a small group of people at the farthest end in the large hall.   
The feedback on Kenny's wines is positive all around, many people asking questions about them as they taste the various bottles they brought with them. 

While Kenny boasts, Eren remains quiet, gulping down his own alcoholic drinks too fast to be considered lady-like, but he's leaving tomorrow and he'll be damned he's not going to enjoy tonight. Alcohol, unfortunately enough, is a part of it.  

Throughout dinner Kenny keeps complaining about the food, and his stomach, while Eren is so busy with avoiding Petra's glares that he can't even act like he cares. Kenny, luckily enough is drunk enough to not take it personal, and instead just focuses his attention on other people when noticing Eren is not being baited into bickering with him.    
Petra's rage must be left over from the introduction earlier, or perhaps because Levi shamelessly keeps feeding Eren drunk whenever Kenny looks away. Eren's blush is permanent when Levi again pours him a glass of wine while Kenny is arguing about how high to wear your belt for optimal functionality when you're a 'true warrior' and not a 'pompous rich man'.    
Erwin, as sober as ever, settles down the discussion by bringing up a rumor about the local milkman, successfully distracting both Kenny and a balding man. 

Eren sips from his own wine, the texture drying his mouth and warming his stomach. His green eyes observe Erwin for a moment, the man's more attractive now than he was when Eren was sober, but it's nothing compared to Levi.   
Levi, naturally, is already looking at him when he tries to sneak a peek. Eren forces down a smile, hiding his face behind his glass which he downs in one go, arching his throat as he throws back his head. 

"Maybe you should settle down, sweetheart." Petra says when Eren places down his empty glass. Her hand rests itself on the rim of it. 

"Why? I'll only make a fool out of myself, is that not what you want?" The boy throws back before biting his tongue and immediately apologizing to her. She seems quite angered by his words and sure enough she doesn't accept the apology. 

"You don’t need to be drunk to make an absolute fool out of yourself." 

Insulted by her remark as he despises how she looks down on him, Eren wants to bark back at her but something shuts him up abruptly. 

The pressure on his foot is foreign for a moment and Eren blinks at Kenny besides him who surprisingly isn't even aware of the bickering and instead chatting with Erwin and an even taller man going by Mike.   
It takes him embarrassingly long before he figures out that the sensation is someone else's foot resting on top of his. 

Eren stirs, glances at Erwin, glances at the stranger to his other side, finally glances at Petra who is eating with a smug expression on her face. 

So... 

When looking up at Levi, the man eyes him without an expression on his face before he opens his mouth wide but slack, inserting a fork with food between his lips. Eren watches, obscenely aroused when Levi pulls the utensil from between his closed, pink lips.    
It has to be Levi's foot, right? Eren tilts his head in question while Levi only chews for a few moments before one of his eyebrows quirks up. 

The boy nearly chokes when he takes a bite himself and the weight on the bridge of his foot travels up his ankle. He can't stop himself from jumping in his seat, bumping a knee into the table and causing people nearby to look into his direction.  

"I apologize. I had an itch." Eren exclaims clumsily, blushing and looking down at his food until onlookers lose interest and focus back on their own conversations. When glancing at Levi, the man is leaning his chin on his thumb, the rest of his fingers masking his mouth while he looks away for a moment. 

The subtle and repetitive shrugging of the man's broad shoulders cause Eren to suspect Levi's actually chuckling. He scowls when Levi looks at him and has to hold himself back from stomping his heel into the man's toes. 

A mere few minutes later as people start getting even more drunk and loose, Levi's foot is back on Eren's after he'd moved it away when the boy had jumped. When it creeps back up Eren's ankle, he finds out the man must've toed off a shoe for the touch is soft, fabric of a sock touches the boy's bare skin as the foot moves up higher.   
He wants to glare at Levi, not quite getting why the man is doing this odd thing. Is he trying to tickle him or something? Either way, Levi won't look at him as he's talking to Petra, leaning his cheek on a hand, eyes bored but solely focused on her. 

While Eren tries to move his leg away from Levi's persistent foot, the man glances at him. Levi looks amused in some way, or perhaps he's drunk. His eyes are dark and lazy, like he'd just woken up and Eren grows warm all over when looking at him.   
Eren stops moving away, instead taking a sip from his well-needed tea which was brought to him by one of the many waiters. Levi grasps the opportunity swiftly and the boy lets his legs fall open when the man's toes stroke up the side of his calf. The boy‘s movement alone seems to be of lewd nature for Levi actually pauses mid-sentence. 

Petra eyes him, frowning in confusion before accepting the man's excuse of feeling a headache coming up. She blames him for drinking too much alcohol while Levi just sips from what Eren suspects is a Whiskey. The man's foot does descend once more, though Eren suspects this is more to do with the fact that the man's too short to reach any higher without sinking suspiciously low in his seat, rather than with him not wanting to be more mischievous. 

Eren blushes furiously for a long while later. 

When desserts have been eaten and the women and men are told to separate for the rest of the night, Kenny looks pale and sweaty. Eren eyes him warily as they exit into the main hall and proceeds to rest a hand on the man's arm. 

"Kenny, are you feeling okay?" 

The man nods, though looks like death washed over. Did he drink too much? Maybe he's allergic to some of the food...  

Reiner and Krista appear a few moments later, having to try and convince Kenny to go to bed for a solid ten minutes as the foursome remains hidden in a corner down the hallway, away from onlookers.    
Surprisingly, Reiner manages to talk Kenny into it and as the taller man rests most of his weight on the other's shoulder they ascend the staircase to their bedroom. 

Krista holds back Eren when he's about to follow. 

"Someone requested for Kenny to be knocked out for the rest of the night. He'll be okay." 

"What?" Eren asks, surprised. She shushes him, moving her hand up and down as in to tell him to stay quiet. The short girl pulls him closer. 

"Reiner and I helped in the kitchen so we slipped some medicine into Kenny's food. Having it combined with food rather than a drink must've gotten him a little sick but I assure you he's not in danger and likely will just be passed out until morning." 

Eren keeps blinking dumbly, staring at Krista who, though granted is aware of Eren at times drugging Kenny, does not seem like the person to be going to such lengths. 

"Who asked this?" 

"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm not allowed to tell. Maybe at a later time." Though curious, Eren nods at his friend, looking around for a moment into the empty hallway. A large painting behind his friend displays a battlefield; horses and men falling as they're attacked by giant creatures. Legends say that titanic humans used to walk the earth, Eren's not sure he'll ever believe this and for a split second he'd love to get Levi's opinion on it. 

Levi... 

Eren blushes again. 

"Well, I can't return to the party without a chaperone, I'm a married woman now."  

Krista nods. 

"That's why you should go out into the gardens, the women are meeting in the study upstairs over tea after all. You can be at peace out there. And who knows, once the party is over we can sneak around the castle and explore a bit." The young girl smiles at Eren though Eren knows she'll be long asleep by the time the party ends. Regardless, he nods, thanks her with a soft embrace and then sneaks out towards the gardens. 

Sure enough, the gardens are completely empty. There's various paths with earth-toned stones as gravel that spread out into different patterns, all of them surrounded by fancily shaped hedges. Eren knows that further down, hidden in the dark that swallows the yard beyond where the outside lights on the palace's walls reach, lays a rose garden. And he decided to head towards it as it'll ensure he won't be bothered but he'll still be close enough to hear a loud voice call out to him such as Kenny's or even Krista's. 

The closer the boy gets, the more prominent the scent of roses becomes and he is grateful for having sobered up a little by now in order to appreciate the pureness of the sense. 

Eren gingerly steps into the rose garden, lit only by the soft moon above him. The square space of grass and two benches across from the other, is framed with bushes of roses as well as the one entrance Eren came through which is a wooden arch of vine and flowers. There's different colors and sizes of roses, though most of them are big and dark red. 

After pacing around the small garden, touching velvety petals and bringing his nose up to a few flowers of peculiar shape and color, Eren settles down on the bench that looks out to the only entrance. He can't see much as it's dark and the path curves from his sight after a short distance, bushes distorting his vision. Regardless, he can see the huge palace at the edge of the yard, it's bigger than he thought it was and there's only a few rooms which are still lit from the inside. 

Arching his throat as he lets his head fall back, Eren spots countless of stars in the black sky above him and in that moment he feels terribly alone.   
The realization that he'll be returning home tomorrow depresses him dearly. It's not the luxury of warm water or a clean environment and fancy food that makes him grow gloomy over leaving. Rather it is having to go back to where he's been for so long. Back to his own life of surviving and fighting.   
Back to living with Kenny and doing nothing but cleaning and spreading his legs for that man. Doing nothing but talking to Kenny about boring things and just hope he won't get slapped for the tone of his voice. Doing nothing but just existing, just staring out in front of him and breathing. Being there. 

He'd run... If he could, he'd run. Eren is convinced now. He doesn't know if it's the alcohol and having seen how exciting life can be even if only because of interacting with other people, even if only because of bickering with Levi. But, whereas before he felt like he owed Kenny, Eren knows now that it's more him being afraid of the consequences towards his mother than it is feeling anything positive towards Kenny. 

Kenny is... complicated. Crude and aggressive. And, sure enough he's helped Eren, is still helping his mother, but at what cost?  

The undeniable sound of a branch breaking under the weight of something or someone causes Eren to jump. He straightens up while looking at the tiny rose-garden's entrance and his breath hitches when seeing a short man pausing when seeing him.   
Though, he doesn't do so out of surprise because he's carrying two drinks, thus must've expected Eren -someone- to be here. Therefore, Levi must have paused in his tracks merely to await Eren's reaction, permission even. 

Eren shifts a little, placing his ankles together and resting his hands in his lap as he nods at Levi. 

Levi greets him in a soft voice, barely audible from across the garden, before walking towards him.    
The boy notices how his cravat is undone, just hanging around his neck while the top buttons of his shirt have been undone to reveal the hollow between his collar bones.  

 _'His throat is slender._ _'_  Is the dumb and undesired thought that punches itself into the boy's mind. 

The boy's heartbeat quickens when Levi sits down next to him, close enough for their elbows to touch, and even their knees would if Eren would let his legs fall open even a slight bit. Levi hands him a drink wordlessly. 

"We need to talk." Levi murmurs. 

* * *

 

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	8. PART VIII

**PART VIII**

 

Elena seems more nervous than he does frightful once Levi sits down next to him and tells him they need to talk. 

Levi, granted, has no clue what to say straight after that and this only results in them sitting in silence as Elena grows more nervous. 

As he hands him a cold lemon tea and Elena sips from it eagerly, Levi ponders what to bring up first. 

The incident with Petra?   
The game of footsie under the table?   
The fact that he saw him getting fucked by Kenny and could confirm that Elena is one hundred percent male?   
The plan to get the wine formulas from him? (Was that even on his agenda in the first place?)   
The desire to take him away somewhere and fuck him silly for the remainder of the night? 

Levi licks his lips, staring down at his hands which dangle between his spread legs as they hold their own glass of tea. 

For some reason, he is nervous. He actually feels nervous and he's not certain as to why. It could be he's afraid to be caught by Kenny who Erwin had made sure gotten knocked out by an overflow of cold medicine hidden in his food. Moreover, it could be because now more than before, knowing Elena is male, he truly finds him to be attractive.   
The earlier fight is all forgotten. He'd gotten jealous, perhaps his pride had been cracked as well for having Elena talk back at him. But he'd believed that Petra had been together with Levi, had been jealous himself... And thus, shoving all this information in one big pot of ' _now it fucking makes sense_ ', Levi's figured it all out. 

He can have this boy. Though, something ties Elena to Kenny (he's not yet certain what) there has to be something important. Regardless, if he'd manage to break that tie, he could have him, no doubt about it.   
Certainly, he'd have to either murder Kenny for him or just flee the country with Elena, but it's still a possibility.    
Then again, as any outcome seems to require a lot of effort and risks, Levi could as well just... try him out. He could just fuck the boy, see how he likes him after that as affection and lust lay close to one another in the brain until your body has gotten its share to allow your mind to think clearly.   
But then, if he'd end up not liking Elena, or end up having Kenny find out and either assassinate Levi or take Elena with him to a place Levi could never reach, the boy would be left in shambles. 

Because Elena's feelings for him are obvious. It might be lust even from the kid's perspective, perhaps he even sees Levi as a mere hero to take him away from Kenny, but Levi's gut tells him it's more.   
This kid is loyal. This boy is genuine. 

Levi isn't often wrong about people though he'd not expected for Elena to argue with him earlier that day. Yet, in the end he was glad that happened as it only made him respect the kid more. There's a fire in him after all. 

"What are your future plans now?" Levi asks dumbly, though he hides the urge to berate himself and instead drinks from his tea. Elena follows his example. 

"I don't have any plans. I'm just living day to day."  

Levi eyes him for a moment, finding new appreciation for his features now that he knows he's a boy. His Adam's Apple bops as he swallows, obviously self-conscious at being watched so closely. 

"There must be something. Want to build a family with Kenny or want-" Levi suggest to try and get him to talk, but Elena interrupts him with urgency, perking up. 

"No! N-no. I don't want to build a family with him. I don't even..." Elena pauses, glances at Levi for a moment. 

"I don't even want to be his wife. I'm just with him because, … Because he helps me." 

"Helps you with what?" Levi urges, curious and eager to find out the true story so he can sabotage it. 

Elena purses his lips, shrugging and taking another sip from his tea. 

"I said earlier today, that I'm grateful for what he does for me. But, rather what I meant to say was that I owe him. I owe Kenny big time." 

"Did he cover up a murder for you? What could he possibly have done to have you owe him?" Levi half jokes, downing his drink before placing the empty glass next to him on the bench. 

Elena does laugh, short and heartily.  

"I wish. Then I could just return the favor and move on." 

 _'So, he_ ** _does_** _want to move on without him.'_  Is what Levi figures out from that lightly spoken sentence. 

"You'd cover up a murder for him?" 

"I'd do a lot to get out." Elena whispers as he locks eyes with Levi. They stare at each other for a moment before the boy realizes what he said and glances away quickly, grimacing. 

"I'd put myself in harm's way to leave this life behind. But not her- But I can't." 

 _'But not_ ** _hers_** _.'_  Levi hears. 

He must still be drunk, going by how loosely he's talking to Levi. The man ponders for a moment before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a flask of alcohol. 

Elena eyes him warily when he unscrews it and takes a sip. 

"The night's young." Levi murmurs in the lowest tone of voice he can manage, hoping that that'll hit the spot for the boy good enough to have him agree to more alcohol. Reaching out the flask, Levi watches Elena's face closely. 

It takes the boy a few moments as he himself seems to be weighing the negatives and positives in whatever outcome may be the result of drinking more alcohol. 

For whatever holy reason, Elena trusts him enough to take the flask from him and take a few gulps. As suspected he ends up coughing his lungs out but smiles when Levi pats him on the back. 

"That is strong." 

"About four times stronger than your average wine." Levi shares, tapping the metal to urge the boy to drink more which he does before handing the flask back over. Levi pockets it after a prude swig himself. 

"Want to dance?" 

Elena blinks, confused at the question. 

"Dance?" 

"Yes, your husband didn't dance with you today." 

"I don't know how to..." 

"I'll teach you." Levi says as he gets up. 

"But, there's... no... music..." Elena speaks slowly, obviously only declining because he's embarrassed. 

"I'll teach you." Levi repeats and reaches out a hand towards him. The boy glances at his palm before taking a deep breath and placing his hand into Levi's. Though Elena is taller, his hand is still thin and fragile unlike Levi's large and rough hands. 

He's soft... 

The man guides Elena towards the middle of the rose garden after having taken his drink from him to place it on the bench. 

"Take off your shoes. It'll be easier." Levi suggests and after a weird glance Elena obeys as they both take off their shoes and even socks. The grass beneath is warm, not yet wet by morning dew, tickling their toes. 

"What dance do you want to learn?" Levi asks Elena as they stand across from one another, one hand clasped into the other's. 

"Uhm, something slow?" 

"Slow? Those are often intimate." Levi points out dryly, teasing Elena though he doubts the drunk kid can tell since the man's face doesn't betray any of the amusement he's feeling. 

"That's, that's fine."  

"Alright." Levi mumbles, holding Elena's hand a little higher before placing his other one on the boy's waist. Eren audibly gasps though Levi acts like he didn't hear him. He pulls Elena closer until there's only a hand-width of space left between their bodies. 

After adjusting the kid's feet positioning by tapping them with his own, Levi looks up into the boy's eyes. 

"Ready?" 

Elena only nods, appearing overheated and overwhelmed.  

"Alright." Levi murmurs softly, suppressing a smile at how nervous the boy in his arms is. 

It only takes two whole seconds before Elena accidentally steps on Levi's bare toes. The man hisses while Elena profusely apologizes as they cling to each other to not tumble over into the grass. 

The boy hiccups a poorly hidden laugh when they reposition to try again and Levi gently shoves his hand against his shoulder before placing it back on his waist. 

"Shut up. Again." 

"Yes, sir." Is Elena's amused reply and Levi ignores how much of an odd turn-on it is to hear the boy address him so politely. So  _submissively_.   

This time around it takes a solid five seconds before Elena stomps on Levi's foot again and now the man actually yelps at the pain which causes the boy to laugh so hard he sounds like a donkey. 

"Shut up!" Levi exclaims, shoving Elena's shoulder a little too hard and as the boy starts to fall he reaches out to pull Levi with him. Though the man saw it coming, could've slapped his hand away before reaching the hem of his shirt, he allows for it to happen and they fall together.  

The thump of Elena's body hitting the grass is dull and surprisingly loud. Levi lands more softly, trained in how to fall to minimize any damage his body could take. Regardless, he still makes sure to land above Elena, his left elbow in the grass, his right hand on the boy's shoulder, while the length of his body lays beside and half atop of him. 

The kid blinks, letting go of Levi's shirt and mumbling a soft sorry though seemingly too frightened to make any more movements than necessary. 

In that moment, Levi knows he can kiss him without many consequences, let alone rejection. The only thing he needs to do is brush the hand on Elena's shoulder up the side of his neck to his jaw, cup his face and lean down to plant his lips on his.   
The boy would open up under him, he'd open his mouth for Levi to explore, perhaps he'd even open his legs for Levi to lay between... Perhaps his arms would come up to wrap around his broad shoulders. 

All that could happen, Levi can tell by the heaviness of Elena's breaths and the darkness in his eyes. 

But, he doesn't. Not yet... Not here. It takes a ridiculous amount of self-control to not just go for it. After all, the setting seems ideal, they're alone and have hours to spend together. 

"Want to try again?" Levi asks. 

Elena shakes his head after a moment, coyly glancing away. 

"I'm too drunk." 

"Want to go someplace else?" Levi tries and Elena ponders over it for a moment before again he shakes his head. 

The man freezes when he can feel the boy's hand placed against his chest, over his heart. The warmth of his skin easily travels through the layers of fabric he's wearing. 

"Your heart is beating fast." 

Levi feels as if he's been caught in a lie but he ignores the sensation. Instead the man moves his face closer to Elena, noting that he does not move away from him. Their noses touch and the silence around them as they hold their breaths is overwhelming. 

"Why don't you stop me?" Levi murmurs quietly, feeling his skin raise in goosebumps as the proximity of the boy's lips to his. Elena's lashes flutter as he tries to read the man's face in close-up. His fingers curl into his jacket as if he's about to pull him closer. 

"Why don't you go ahead?" Elena throws back. 

"Go ahead and do what?" 

A silence follows before Elena surprisingly finds enough courage to reply. 

"Kiss me." 

Levi exhales heavily, closing his eyes and forcing himself to not move an inch. The fact that Elena is willing, is enough to make him grow inside of his pants. The boy is right there under him, close enough to eat up. He could kiss him, could go down on him, could even fuck him if they'd take their time in prepping him. Not even the memory of Kenny being inside Elena can ease down Levi's arousal in that moment. 

"Where's the fun in that?" Levi murmurs, rubbing his nose over Elena's before opening his eyes to look into the boy's half-lid ones. 

"When else will we have the opportunity?"  

Levi chuckles at his question and Elena seems to be surprised at the sound and sight of it. The hand in his jacket clenches as he holds his breath for a few moments. 

"I want to know more about you, Elena." Levi suggests, in the back of his head wanting to get to know more about why the boy doesn't leave Kenny behind, though a greater part of him is just trying to stall kissing him because he's always adored the hunt before catching his prey.   
Not to mention... if their lips were to touch, Levi doubts he wouldn't lure Elena into being fucked by him right here on the grass. 

"There's nothing interesting to know about me, sir."  

Levi's eyes must've narrowed or his lips must've thinned at that because Elena somehow figures out in that very moment that he enjoys being called as such. Levi can tell he did because there's a soft smile on his lips, only for a split second. 

"I come from a poor family and ended up with a poor criminal." 

"Where's your family?" 

"I don't know." 

"You don't know?" 

Elena shrugs, his hand finally letting go of Levi's shirt. The young boy looks away for a moment before he stares over Levi's shoulder up at the sky above. 

"I've only my mother, she's hidden somewhere, ill and bed-ridden." 

Levi frowns gently, immediately curious in the boy's background. He moves away a little, backing up but remaining half on top of Elena. 

"How do you know this?" 

Elena bites his cheeks, glancing at Levi, searching in his eyes for something he can trust. 

"Kenny." He says. 

"Kenny takes care of her. If it weren't for Kenny she'd be gone by now." 

This fact doesn't surprise Levi as much as it should. Of course, the man would have something that big hang over a kid like Elena to keep him in check. This as well immediately and clearly explains as to why Eren owes Kenny. And as to why the boy can't leave him. 

"Do you visit her?" 

Elena shakes his head, his lips pulling down in a grimace. 

"No. Kenny won't let me. She writes me letters at times but they occur less and less as she's losing strength and skill to write."  

Levi assumes she's close to death, which means that one day Elena will be able to escape Kenny, though will have to go through some intense emotional turmoil at the same time. 

Rolling off Elena, Levi lays down on his back next to the boy, both of them looking at the stars as they think. 

"Kenny raised me after my mother's death." Levi shares and Elena looks at him in surprise. 

"I'm sorry." 

"It was long ago." The man says, automatically, as it's the only suitable reply to people pitying him. 

"So, when did you leave him?" 

"About ten years ago, at sixteen. I met Erwin who's close friends with the king. He saw something in me no one before him did, except for perhaps my own mother." Levi explains, only half noticing the irony in how Elena is getting to know him more than he is him. 

"I saw my chance out. I found out my hard work and talents can benefit other people than just Kenny and that shitty village. So, I followed Erwin to the city and haven't looked back until that day I returned a few months ago now." 

"Has Kenny changed?" Elena asks curiously and Levi meets his eyes as he looks at him. 

"Not one damn bit." He murmurs in all honesty. 

"Kenny is lost, Elena. Don't ever trust a man to guide you through the night when he himself is blind in the dark." 

They remain in silence for a long moment after that before Elena sits up. 

"Please teach me how to ride a horse." 

Levi blinks at him, raising himself as well before eying her warily. 

"It's well into the night, we are both drunk and Nyx is asleep." 

The boy smiles at him, sheepishly, and shrugs. 

"Any other time is fine. Just, I want to learn many things. Like how to fire a weapon and defend myself. How to make crude jokes." 

Levi nods at him. 

"Why don't we start with teaching you how to dance without breaking at least four of my toes within a minute." 

Sure enough, for the next half hour Levi and Elena dance slowly in the grass, swaying and pacing in a rhythm that would match a slow ballad had there been any music playing. Only a handful of times does the kid step on Levi's feet and by the time they're exhausted as the dance had picked up in pace, their bodies are flush together. 

Elena, though quite a bit taller, leans his head on Levi's shoulder and the latter suspects he'll be having a sore neck by morning because of the awkward position. Regardless, he doesn't point it out, instead just holding his scrawny body close to him as they sway from one foot onto the other over and over. 

"Let me bring you back to the palace." Levi mutters into the boy's shoulder. 

"All the lights are off, everyone's asleep." He adds as they both glance at the building in the distance. 

Though Elena seems to not desire returning, he still agrees and they both put on their shoes in silence. 

Holding both glasses in one hand, Levi leads Elena through the garden. 

When they're inside, Levi drops the dishes inside a sink in the large and quiet kitchen before leading Elena up the marble staircase. Though, once they have to split ways as they are sleeping in different wings, Elena halts. 

"Can I see your room?" 

It's a very bold and not at all subtle question coming from the boy who by now surely has sobered up enough to think before speaking. Levi knows even more than Elena does that if he'd bring him along with him into his bedchambers, they'd end up tangled in sweaty bedsheets for the next couple of hours. 

Levi, though exhausted at this hour after so many drinks, could still go for it... 

Against his own better judgement, Levi nods, turning around with the boy following him on his heels. 

By the time they reach Levi's room, the man isn't at all convinced anymore that the hunt is such a big deal in the first place. He begins to make up excuses, just so he can justify bedding Elena right then and there. 

But then he ponders over the boy's gender. Certainly, Elena still believes Levi thinks he's a girl... So, what is this kid even thinking they'll be doing other than playing some chess and making out for a solid thirty minutes?   
It could be that Kenny has spoken about Levi's sexuality before but then again, his uncle would not risk having Elena know this if only for the sake of not having them end up fucking. 

 _'Too bad, uncle.'_  

Levi turns on an oil lamp rather than the overhead light, to keep matters discreet and makes sure to lock the door behind them after they enter his office. 

"This is my office. Bedroom's behind that door, bathroom is the door in the corner over there." Levi explains, pointing at the entrances before toeing off his shoes once more and throwing his untied cravat over the back of a nearby chair. 

Elena excuses himself to the bathroom while Levi shrugs off his jacket, disposing of it on the same chair before he rounds his desk to sit behind it. He groans loudly at finally being able to sit on a normal chair rather than prickly grass. 

The boy returns quickly, smiling gingerly at Levi before walking around in the room to inspect their surroundings. He touches books and frames, asking a question here and there which Levi answers in a calm voice, even though he's growing more and more frustrated at seeing him move around in a slow, sensual pace. 

"So, what is miss Petra to you?"  

The question comes out of nowhere and Levi glances at Eren as he hides his mouth behind a few fingers of the hand he's leaning his chin on. When the boy looks back after no reply comes, Levi lets his legs fall open and leans back in his seat more comfortable. 

"A nuisance." Levi murmurs behind his fingers, watching the boy so intently that Elena ends up blushing and looking away. 

"How crude of you." Elena says softly, taking a few steps and tilting a book out of the bookcase with one finger, acting like he's interested before letting it fall back into place and moving on. 

"Possibly. Though not undeserved." Levi explains as Elena looks closely at a smaller painting on the wall to Levi's right. The man watches him from the corner of his eye before allowing his chair's seat to turn and face the kid. 

"So, is there any other lady you're interested in?" A bold question for a child as prude as him. 

"No. Not quite." Levi replies truthfully, as the only one he's interested in is standing right in front of him, hiding a beautiful male body under the layers of his dress. 

When Elena looks at him, Levi reaches out a hand. 

"Come here." He murmurs lowly and in the dimmed light of a single oil-lamp, Elena's eyes glisten nearly as much as his hair is glossy. The boy hesitates, before stepping forwards towards Levi who's still seated in his chair, elbows on the arm rests, legs spread wide as he's leaned back comfortably. 

When the boy is close enough to reach, Levi grabs Elena by the wrist and is pleased when the boy gasps as he's pulled onto his lap. He's surprisingly light for his tall posture. 

Elena places both his hands on the man's shoulders, steadying himself as he's sitting on top of Levi's right thigh.  

"Sir, I-" 

"I'm not interested in anyone but you, Elena." Levi interrupts the kid, holding his wrist in one hand while the other places itself in the small of his back. 

"I've tried to stop myself all day. I've tried to lose interest for the past few months. But..." Levi thinks back to how he'd still been intrigued by the kid when he'd believed him to be female which had never happened before in his life, ever. Never had he fancied women. He'd told himself he did. Even had bedded multiple women in his past as if to try and convert himself. But when it came to lust and romantic interests, not a single woman had ever caught his eye, until Elena. 

When looking up at the kid and noticing he's a little too tall to reach comfortably, Levi goes ahead and buries his face into the boy's neck.    
Elena's breath stutters as he stirs immediately and only when the man exhales hot air in the crook where shoulder meets neck, does the boy exhale and relax slightly. 

Smelling him, the scent of vanilla and sweat heavy in his nostrils, causes Levi to grow more aroused in no time. The man bites back a groan as he gingerly plants his lips on the boy's bare skin. The touch is searing hot, for the both of them it appears, going by how Elena jolts in his lap.   
The fingers on his shoulders tighten their grip, digging into the man's skin. 

The hand on Elena's back migrates north until it's planted between his shoulder blades, and he uses the position to pull him closer to him. Levi can feel him tremble as he carefully wraps his arms around Levi's shoulders, dipping his head and allowing the man more access to the side of his neck which is long, soft and hot. 

Unable to suppress a hum, Levi once more plants a kiss on Elena's skin, proceeding when noting the boy gasps softly. He tries another peck, and once more the boy's breath stutters. Levi's free hand rubs over the kid's arm, soothing him for a moment while he continuously keeps kissing him in a slow pace.   
Elena grows breathier with every passing moment, arching his neck and even going as far as to press his entire upper body closer against Levi.  

"Levi..." Elena whispers his name, his breath fanning out over Levi's shoulder where he's buried his face. The boy's fingers dig into his skin when Levi travels his kisses higher, planting a firm one in the hollow where his jaw meets ear.   
When brushing his fingers higher up Elena's arm until they've traveled over the nape of the boy's neck and reach the back of his head where they bury themselves in thick strands of hair, Elena shivers. 

Levi's always taken great pleasure in overwhelming his partners, hence why he tends to grow interested in more inexperienced, if not shy creatures such as Elena. After all he prefers to be in charge but as well give pleasure rather than claim it for himself. Though this time around, he finds that seeing someone tremble and whimper in his arms gives him more pleasure than the average blow-job would... Regardless of such, Levi has no doubt that a blow-job from Elena would make him come in absolutely no time. 

He's beautiful. Beautiful and soft. Everything about him is soft. Even his anger fails to be as sharp as Levi's. 

Levi, in a sigh, has his teeth graze over the boy's jawline and this alone causes Elena to whimper. He stifles the sound quickly, embarrassment apparent in how he tenses up.  

"Don't be shy." Levi teases him, whispering the words into his ear before nipping at the shell of it.   
Again, Elena jolts at the sensation before he wraps his arms more firmly around Levi, his body subconsciously falling into a rhythm as he tries to grind himself against the man's abdomen. Though, in the position he's taken, it only results in the boy's sharp hipbone rubbing against Levi's stomach. 

It's only when Levi decides that kissing Elena should happen tonight, that he gets up from his seat. Elena nearly falls off his lap before catching himself, but Levi allows him no time to think too much and instead grabs his thighs through layers of skirts and lifts him onto his desk.   
Elena gasps when he's tossed onto the wooden furniture and an odd cut-off whimper resounds when Levi goes to stand between the boy's spread legs. The man, too old to be playing any more games –or perhaps too turned on to-, leans over the boy and grabs his face. 

"Sir-" 

"Elena." Levi interrupts the boy in a hoarse whisper and the thickness of his voice causes Elena to shut up. His stare is wide-eyed, overwhelmed and aroused and that look alone will haunt Levi for every night he'll be spending on his own. 

"I'm going to-" Just when the man was about to inform the kid he'll be kissing him, a gentle but rapid knock interrupts them. 

They both freeze, staring at the door which thankfully Levi had locked. 

"Mr. Levi, Mrs. Elena, it's Krista, please open up." 

"What the shit is she doing here?" Levi asks himself, pushing off Elena who scrambles off the desk and rapidly adjusts his skirts and combs fingers through his messy hair.  

Opening the door reveals a stressed looking Krista, eyes darting from Levi to the hallway. 

"Terribly sorry to interrupt but Mr. Kenny woke up and is asking for Mrs. Elena and I'll have to bring her back quickly for him to not grow suspicious of my explanation." She rambles the words so fast Levi barely catches half of them and has to put two and two together for a few seconds. Perhaps it's the alcohol for Elena seems to catch on more quickly and he joins Levi at the door. 

"Okay, I'm going." Elena whispers, exiting into the hallway before he looks over his shoulder at Levi. A soft and shy smile is on the boy's lips when he nods as a goodbye before hastily retreating out of sight. 

When Krista is about to follow, Levi grabs her wrist, letting go immediately when she gasps at it. 

"Krista, I-" Levi begins but she interrupts him with a wide smile. 

"Don't worry, Mr. Ackerman, I haven't seen or heard anything." She assures him though Levi knows she's likely aware of more than he already suspects her to. Regardless, going by how she went ahead and came up for Elena against Petra, going by how he'd seen her speaking to Erwin in a secluded corner hidden from onlookers, going by the genuine smile and determined eyes, she appears trustworthy to Levi.   
The man, in turn, has a good eye for people and rarely comes out surprised when puzzling together another's person. 

As she leaves to follow Elena back, Levi as well retreats back into his office, staring at his empty desk. 

It's only in the morning that he notices his cravat is nowhere to be found. 

* * *

 

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**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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